Sons of the Morning
by LeeMarieJack
Summary: Awakening the morning of a hunt, Sam's new method of research comes into play, as he begins his transition from Hunter to Hunted and Dean stands guard over his brother. Chap 2:Sam puts down a ghost and travels to the Carboniferous Period to see a griffenfly. Chap 3:Kali dances. Chap 4:Traveling to Yoho, Chap 5:Banff Springs Hotel, Chap 13: Sex Scene-no more hints, go read it.
1. Chapter 1

Sons of the Morning

Chapter 1

From the tomb of Paheri, an Eighteenth dynasty Egyptian

As translated by James P. Allen

"_Your life happening again, without your ba being kept away from your divine corpse, with your ba being together with the akh…you shall emerge each day and return each evening. A lamp will be lit for you in the night until the sunlight shines forth on your breast. You shall be told "Welcome, welcome into this your home of the living!"_

Bands of morning sunlight fell across Dean's face, waking him from a mild doze. He glanced at Sam's bed and was pleased to see his brother there.

"Hey Sam, wakey, wakey," Dean called. "Whose turn is it to go get breakfast?"

Sam rolled to his side and eyed his brother.

"I'll go. I haven't been asleep much. I went out walking late last night through the valley and there are things I want to see in the daylight."

"If you were walking last night, did you get your boots wet? Or were you doing your freaky spirit thing?" Dean asked.

Sam rolled back on the bed and threw an arm over his eyes. "I went out in spirit. Stop making fun of me. I'm going to go out now and see what it looks like in the daylight.."

"Alright then", Dean yawned, "Just bring back breakfast from the real world. I want real breakfast, not spirit bagels, thank you. And keep an eye out for the cops. They didn't look happy to see us yesterday, although they never did explain why they pulled us over. I bet they thought we were running moonshine. Do you think we were profiled? You know, smart mouth outsiders in a muscle car? Can we sue for that? Isn't that discrimination?"

"Right, shut up jerk." Sam answered with a roll of his eyes. "Did you get the feeling they didn't like me, or you, for that matter?"

"OK," Dean grunted "Just make sure you don't piss them off enough to shoot you."

When locked in the cage with Lucifer, Sam had endured the tortures, bathed in the Morning Star's overwhelming light. But behind it all there had been something else. Something the fallen angel was attempting to obscure, much like an illusionist's distraction: "No, don't look there, look at me!" The oldest trick in the magician's book, like Oz's Wizard's "Ignore the man behind the curtain. There is nothing there! Look at me!"

But Sam had seen glimpses of something hidden; something timeless and older and it had given him peace. A dream of floating on an endless quiet sea and that was what had saved Sam's mind. His soul split and he was given a gift. He could walk in spirit.

There were thoughts older than the angels. There were forms that were strong when HaShem was wandering in the deserts of the Fertile Crescent. Stories of life and death and rebirth, formalized and dreamed before the tales of the Western world and these were what sustained Sam in Lucifer's cage. Now he was out and these dreams stayed with him, a rebirth of his own.

Now he was capable of sending out his Ka to walk the earth, while the rest of his soul, as named by the ancients the Ib and Shent, the Ren and Akh, rested behind his eyes in sleep. The Ka called to other, wandering sprits and let him commune with them, console them and comfort them.

He had looked last night for the source of the violent spirit that was attacking people in the valley below. It rushed on them from out of the hills, blew through as a chilly wind and ripped their minds apart.

Some leaped to their deaths from roadside cliffs. Others threw themselves into oncoming traffic thereby creating a double tragedy. Any way that they could find to destroy themselves and escape the influence of the spirit they immediately set to effect. There did not seem to be one central location other than simply the hills.

Sam had felt a despairing spirit last night but he could not locate it exactly and so he had nothing to give to Dean to act upon. He had to further research the history of these hills and try to find a cause for so much anger. He had to identify the spirit and learn its' story so they could possibly set it to rest or destroy it. He would walk the valley in body today and see what he could learn.

He wandered to the village, walking the dirt road down the hill from the cabin they had been given as a base of operations. Their employer was the owner of not only the campground their cabin was built on but also the owner of the little gas station and general store in the middle of the village.

A regular one man band, Paul Kraft was very unhappy about the occasional body scattered around his scenic attraction. They were bad for business. Sam dropped in for coffee and muffins and engaged Paul in conversation about the history of the area.

Sam wandered back up the road to Dean. Armed with hot coffee and blueberry muffins he pushed open the cabin door.

"Hey Dean, I've got a lead on our vengeful spirit" he called out.

"Great. What is it?" Dean replied from the bathroom.

"Well, come out of there and I'll tell you. I've got muffins, by the way." Sam put his plunder on the table and sat down.

Dean appeared, drying his hair with a fluffy towel and sat down, making a grab for the bag.

"So spill, what have we got?" Dean bit into his first muffin and washed it down with the coffee. "Good stuff, by the way. You get this from Paul's store?"

"Yeah, I got muffins and info. It really is one stop shopping with Paul, just as advertised. Have you noticed those concrete slabs pushed up against the hillsides around here? There is one just down the road a bit." Sam went on munching his own muffin.

"Yeah, what are those things? They look like gigantic tombstones" Dean asked.

"That is exactly what they are," Sam answered "they are coal mine tombstones. That's how they seal off worked out or collapsed coal mines.

They keep the local kids from wandering in and getting killed. They lay a plinth and erect the wall against the hillside to keep it from sliding. Of course, the locals know what they are and they warn kids not to walk around behind them or up the hill because as the mine supports slowly rot away underground, sink holes form in the woods. Just a really unpleasant way to die and disappear forever is what that is. The locals also have been known to use them as garbage dumps. So, that's lots of fun, all the way around.

In the city they tell the kids to look both ways while crossing the street. Out here in the country they tell the kids to watch out for the ground crumbling under their feet. Another fun fact that Paul told me is that some of these mines actually have bodies buried in them from guys killed during collapses. Mine safety wasn't a high priority back in the day. A lot of times they didn't bother to dig the bodies out for fear of getting someone else killed. They figured, why dig up a body if you're just going to put it back in the ground, an unattractive piece of Appalachian history. There is a strong possibility our spirit is one of these miners."

"So how the hell are we going to identify our spirit and get it to stop getting people killed?" Dean responded, munching his way through another muffin "not to mention, how are we supposed to burn bones we don't have a chance to get at?"

"Let me work on that tonight" Sam responded "I'll try to get him to tell me what he wants. Maybe then we can figure out a way to put him down. Our only chance might be to try and give him what he needs."

"You know what scares me." Dean commented. "how do I keep you safe when you are wandering around communing with spirits? It gives me the willies."

"Just stand guard, Dean. You know how to call me back, if it gets to that. You've done it before. I trust you. You get to be my spirit lamp again. I'll follow you home."

"Great," Dean grumped. " I get to be a light fixture."

That night they went out on the porch with blankets and cushions. Dean also brought along a bottle of vanilla extract from the kitchen. They arranged themselves at the top of the stairs and looked out over the valley. Sam sat and leaned back onto Dean's chest and put his head against Dean's shoulder. Dean wrapped his arms around his brother and held on as Sam drifted off. His eyes closed and his breathing slowed. Around midnight for just a few minutes Sam awoke.

"I need a talisman; a coin, a feather, something of either value or beauty. Have you got anything on you? Even a penny will do. Just put it in my hand." He said to Dean.

Dean stuck a hand into his pocket and came up with a piece of green ocean glass he had been carrying around with him because it felt nice to touch. He put it into Sam's hand and closed his fingers over it. Sam smiled and went away again. Dean stayed on guard.


	2. Chapter 2

Sam and Dean Winchester and all things Supernatural don't belong to me. They belong to the CW and Kripke Enterprises. I only play with them for my own amusement.

Sons of the Morning

Chapter Two

_Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host – by the Devine Powers of God – cast into hell all the evil spirits who roam through the world, seeking the ruin of souls. Amen_

Christian prayer to Saint Michael

Or

Religious thinking from thee thousand years prior:

"_Who you are is limited only by who you think you are"_

"_Name yourself in your heart and know who you are"_

"_In the beat of a heart, the suck of a breath, you are the universe"_

From Awakening Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead, by Normandi Ellis

Sam stood on a ridge of the Crystalline Appalachians and looked over the valley. He had stripped the visible life from the scene and the geology of the land lay naked before him. With the mental removal of plant and animal life, he could pin-point the thrashing of the miserable spirit as it passed over the land. He could hear it scream and wail, and watched it throw itself from ridge to ridge, appearing to try to devour anything it could find. Sam waved his arms and attracted its' attention. It rushed at him. He could see that it was once a man but now its' mouth was stretched in a never ending howl and, appallingly, the eyes were sewn shut. As it reached Sam it tried to wrap its' arms around him and take him with it. For just a moment Sam felt the sorrow, the fear and the hate that the spirit felt. There was overall a tone of abandonment. Sam could understand why people would want to kill themselves rather than share this thick stew of emotion. It was despair at the highest level. It passed through Sam and blew away. His eyes followed its' path as it sank into one of the coal mine tombstones and disappeared.

Sam followed it underground.

The despair was so thick that it stank. Sam could follow the smell like a dog. It lead deeper and deeper into the earth and Sam came to a partially collapsed passage strewn with the skeletons of men and mules still in harness, decorated further with overturned mining carts, knocked off miniature rail tracks. The spirit set perched on a human skill which was still attached to a skeleton partially buried under a rock fall. The spirit wept, tears flowing beneath the stiches in its' eye lids. There was absolutely no light in this awful pit but Sam could see the spirit glow.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" Sam asked. "Can you hear me?

The spirit threw its' head from side to side, aiming its' sealed eyes at Sam's voice." Who are you? Hove you come for me? I have been waiting for you for so long. My name is Ezra Rimes and I am a coal miner. We had a cave in and everyone died but me. It has been a long time here in the dark. I hear voices sometimes and sometimes the earth moves and I think they are coming for me and I hope for a while but then no one comes and I cry. I was so tired of trying to see in the dark that I sewed shut my eyes so that I would stop looking."

Sam was horrified. The man had no idea that he had died. He most likely had gone mad before dying, waiting for rescue in the dark, and when his body gave up he didn't even notice. He had been here in the dark sitting on his own skull, alone for, Sam estimated, from 60 to 70 years, totally unaware of the passage of time. He had sat with hope rising and falling over and over. Madness was the only option.

There was no way that Dean could reach these bones. Sam decided that he would have to talk this spirit into leaving. Speaking softly he said "Ezra, I will show you the way out. I will bring you light. You should remove the stiches in your eye lids. Can you do that for me? I promise I will bring you light but right now I need to go get something for you. I'll be right back."

The spirit wailed. "No, don't leave me here again. Rescue me. Take me out."

"I am not like the others that never came. I promise I will be right back. Just wait here for me. Don't go out to the hills."

Sam woke to Dean's embrace. "I need a talisman, a coin, a feather, something of either value or beauty. Have you got anything like that? Even a penny will do. Just put it in my hand"

Dean closed Sam's fingers over an ocean polished piece of green bottle glass. Sam went into trance again and returned to the mine.

Once in the mine Sam created the appearance of a Sun passage, a small four inch by four inch tunnel to the surface, aimed at the rising sun. Such tunnels had been made In the Pharaoh's pyramids, aimed at a star constellation for the Pharaoh's soul to pass to his place in the sky among the Gods. They were then known as spirit passages. Sam, however, needed to convince an insane spirit to travel toward the sun. He approached Ezra. "Here, take this talisman. Focus upon your hand so that it may hold it. Can you see the Sun tunnel I have made for you? Can you see the light?"

"Yes, I can finally see" Ezra responded. I want to go there. Let me go"

"Alright, this is what you are going to do. When I tell you to go, look to the light and place your hand with the talisman in front. Follow it to the Boat of the Sun, just as it rises from the night. If anyone asks for payment, give them the talisman. Do you understand? Can you do this?" Sam waited to see if the spirit had enough mind left to follow the instructions. The spirit rose from his macabre seat and held his hand in the light. It made the green glass glow. Sam saw the light increase as the sun rose and saw the spirit start to rise. There was a flash and the ghost was gone.

The ghost had escaped his self-imposed tomb and now it was Sam's turn.

He leaned back and accidentally put his hand on a coal seam. He could feel the life in the rock. The energy trapped there was the remains of life energy. He was called back to when the rock was alive. He could feel himself start to slip down the seam in the rock and he saw the mountains around him rise and fall, erode and build. He knew intellectually that the Appalachians had four hundred and eighty million years ago been the central mountains of the supercontinent Pangaca , along with the Atlas Mountains, which now resided in Morocco. They had reached the elevation of the modern Alps before they eroded away for the first time. Millions of years later they rode the tectonic plate activity to what was now North America. Mountain building orogeny twisted and sheered the rocks of the mountains, creating seams that layered together. About three hundred and twenty three million years ago the mountain lay beside the ocean, a vast coastal plain, and the Pennsylvanian Epoch of the Carboniferous Period began. This is when the coal forest existed, scale trees, ferns, club trees, giant horsetails; they would all lay their corpses down to become future coal seams. The oxygen content of the atmosphere was the highest even seen on the planet and it allowed the growth and proliferation of giant insects.

Sam sat beside that sea and watched giant dragon flies known as griffenflies, with two foot wing spans, flit above the coastal swamps. Sea-scorpions scuttled in the brackish water. Dark shadows flitted in the ocean, the earliest sharks. Sharks are old, old as time itself, it seems, and they have endured up to the point where man began to hunt them. Now even these ancient beasts need protection against the great predators of the world, men.

This seemed to be the peaceful sea that Sam had seen when he was in Lucifer's cage. At that time it gave him peace and protected his sanity. He drifted back into the safety of the slowly moving waves. But then he noticed that something was moving on the face of the ocean. It was dark and large and it frightened him. He dropped his face onto his knees and covered his head with his arms. He felt that something was leaning over to look at him and he really did not want to look back. He started to chant, "Come on , Dean, pull me back. Pull me back now. Hurry, Dean, I don't want to look at this . Please pull me back."


	3. Chapter 3 - Kali Dances

Sam and Dean Winchester and all things Supernatural belong to the CW and Kripke Enterprises, Inc. If I owned them it would be a whole different TV show and Bobby would still be alive. I only play with these characters for my own amusement.

**A/N ** I know I promised a bunch of people that the next chapter would be "Bilateral Symmetry and Spinal Cords Win" but what can I do about it? Kali wants to dance

Chapter Three

Kali Dances

_My mother is the principle of consciousness. She is Akhanda Satchtdamanda, indivisible Reality, Awareness, and Bliss. The night sky between the stars is perfectly black. The waters of the ocean depths are the same. The infinite is always mysteriously dark. This inebriating darkness is my beloved Kali._

_Sri Ramakrishna_

As the sunrise limed the brothers with gold, Dean could feel Sam's call. Dean reached for the bottle of vanilla extract and popped the top off. He waved the evocative scent back and forth under Sam's nose and murmured "Come on back, Sam. Come on."

The whole area at the top of the stairs smelled of vanilla. Dean sniffed and there was a memory of warm cookies and the love that baked them. He continued to call his brother back; "Sam, I'm here. Come be here with me. Come back, brother. Sam, come to me." Dean chanted and waved his bottle of magic spice back and forth trying to not feel silly and really mean the words. This kind of thing embarrassed the hell out of him but he had to admit that it actually had worked a couple of times when Sam had wandered off too far.

Sam did not seem to be responding to either the smell or the call so Dean pulled out the last item from his bag of tricks. He rolled his brother's head on his shoulder and then leaned down and kissed him. Sam's essence flowed from his lips to Dean's mouth, soothing them both. Again Dean whispered "Come on, Sam. Come back. The lamp is out, the sun is up, time for your to open your eyes."

As Dean's summons reach down the ages and sucked Sam back up the time seam his head was thrown up and he had a glimpse of the shadow on the water. In just that instant it changed aspect and became Kali, dancing on the waters. Her anklets of bells rang with each stomp and all four arms shuddered like snakes. As her feet hit the water she created the gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. They arose as bubbles from the sea, constantly rising and passing away in an endless cycle of birth and destruction, leaving the original waters unchanged. Kali's dancing feet created and destroyed. Kali the Goddess of Time and Change came first and all of creation followed after.

Sam looked up at the face of Kali and was filled with fear. She was wrapped in the ecstasy of her dance, huge and blue black, her eyes were narrow slits, bloodshot red and her tongue hung from her smiling lips, thirsting for blood and touching her chin. She danced and twirled and she saw him. She leaned sideways toward him and flung out a left arm to snatch him up. She knew he did not belong, that he was out of his time and intruding upon her private creation. She would crush him.

Sam fled up the time seam and avoided her hand but only by a literal hair's breath. He felt her grab at his floating hair but he was gone before the Goddess of Death and Destruction could touch him. Oddly his vision was mixed with the smell of cookies baking and he was monetarily distracted, possibly hiding him from her reality.

Sam awakened in Dean's arms and looked up at his brother's face. "What are you doing, dude, baking Chocolate Chip cookies? "

"No, bitch, I'm trying like hell to wake you up. It's a bottle of vanilla. I'm using it as smelling salts." Dean waved the bottle at his brother. "Come on, get off me."

Sam eyed the bottle of flavoring. "Do you know that the Vanilla orchid is from a very small area of Mesoamerica? It was introduced to Europe by Cortes in 1520. In its' natural state it is fertilized by an inefficient species of the Melipona bee which is only found in Mexico. The rest of the world's production of vanilla is hand pollinated, thereby making a vanilla pod the world's second most expensive spice, behind saffron."

Dean just stared at him. "No, Nerd Boy, I did not know that. Why would I? Why would you? Now that I do know I will try to forget it along with all the other crap you try to shovel into my head. I am pretty sure I have only so much storage available and you keep trying to use it up."

"Well, anyway. thanks for the rescue, jerk. It was a really close call. Kali was about to crush me." Sam responded.

"Kali, what the hell are you doing messing with Kali? You were after a vengeful spirit. What happened to that job?" Dean huffed.

"It's done. His name was Ezra and he had been waiting for someone to dig him out for the past half century. He had gone insane. I used your ocean glass as a talisman and got him to follow it to Ra's sun boat. All he really wanted at this point was light. He's out of the valley; no one else will be driven to their death. Let him try to figure out the religious aspects of his rescue. I'm finished with him."

"After he left up my Sun Tunnel I managed to park my hand on a coal seam and slide down time to the Carboniferous period where I ran into an aspect of creation named Kali. She didn't like me very much."

Dean ran his hand through his hair. "I swear, even when you are right in front of me, you get into trouble. After we tell Paul tomorrow that his valley is no longer haunted, what do you want to do?"

"Do we have to make up our minds today?" Sam asked. "I would like to take advantage of the free accommodations and clean up our act a little. Maybe restock our supplies, do laundry, stuff like that. I want to do a little research on an idea I have."

Dean gave him a narrow look "Am I going to like this idea of yours?"

"Probably, not," Sam answered. "How do you feel about Canada? Have you ever heard of the Burgess Shale?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

JoJo's Chocolate Chip Cookies with Marshmallow

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 eggs

1 teaspoon salt, 12 oz pkg (2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter (NOT MELTED), for JoJo's recipe + 1 full bag of marshmallows

¾ cup sugar, for JoJo's recipe additional ¾ to 1 cup flour, as needed

¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375 Fahrenheit. In small bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt, set aside. In large mixer bowl, beat butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until creamy. Beat in eggs. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 9-11 minutes until golden brown. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

To make JoJo's recipe stiffen the dough by beating in the additional flour. If using alternate recipe do not add water. Underbake cookies by one or two minutes. Tuck a marshmallow into the center of each cookie. Freeze the cookies before they completely cool off to keep the marshmallow in place. You may have to try this a couple of times to get it just right but these are the best chocolate chip cookies in the world.


	4. Chapter 4 - Traveling to Yoho

Sam and Dean Winchester belong to the CW and Kripke Enterprises Inc. I only play with them for fun and will put them back when I'm done.

**Sons of the Morning**

Chapter 4

Traveling to Yoho

_Winter is here again, Oh Lord. Haven't been home in a year or more. Hope she holds on a little longer. Sent a letter on a long summer day, made of silver, not of clay. , I've been runnin' round this dusty road_

_The wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'_

_I don't know where I'll be tomorrow_

_Wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'_

_I've been trying to make it home. Got to make it, before too long. Ooh, I can't take this very much longer, no. I'm stranded in a sheet of rain. Don't' think I'm ever gonna make it home again. The mornin' sun is risin'. It's kissin' the day._

_Lyrics to The Wheel in the Sky, by Journey, 1978_

"Canada? Why are we taking off for Canada?" Dean asked

"Actually, for two reasons." Sam answered back. "First, I found a hunt; kind of a strange one. People are being driven away from an area of Yoho National Park in British Columbia by what seems to be wolves, wolves that appear and disappear in the blink of an eye. No one has been hurt yet, just had the crap scared out of them."

"I heard about it on the ranger's website. It's freaking everyone out because there aren't supposed to be wolves in that particular area of the park and the Park Service is afraid that the animals are expanding their range."

"And this makes it our problem, why?" Dean wanted to know.

"Well, because I want to go visit the Burgess Shale fossil bed and I need something to keep you amused. If I don't find you something to play with you're just going to go around getting into trouble. Good enough answer?"

Dean shot his brother a raised eyebrow look. "Whoa, a little too much attitude there, Sammy boy. I'm not a kid. I don't need to be entertained. I can keep myself amused, even in the middle of the woods."

"Have you met yourself?" Sam shot back.

"It's a hell of a long way from West Virginia to British Columbia. I would like a little more to go on than just vague stories off some web site, but if you've got a bug up your butt to go visit some fossils, I guess I'll start packing." Dean wandered around the room picking up things and stuffing them into his duffle.

"Listen, Dean, we have gone farther on less. There really is something strange going on there. I think we should look at it before somebody ends up dead at the bottom of a ravine. You'll like it, I promise. There are lots of little towns scattered throughout the park system. We'll find you a pool hall. Come on, I really want to do this." Sam pulled the little brother whine. Even at their current ages, it seems to be effective.

"O.K., O.K., stop bitching. I'm packing up. You want to do the same?" They policed the cabin and packed everything into the Impala.

"You know, this is going to be a couple of thousand mile trip. I think I want to do an oil change and tune up before we take off. Before we hit the Rockies I'll have to do carburetor adjustments for high altitude driving." Dean mused. "I think we should stop down at Pauls' place and eat, get supplies and take care of the car."

"Whatever floats your boat, Dean" Sam replied. "It all sounds good to me."

They drive down to Paul's little Emporium and take care of all their chores, turn the cabin keys over to Paul and collect the promised fee. It felt good to be paid for their hunt and Den hoped that Paul would pass the information along to others who might need them.

Then, finally, they take off, the Impala rumbling along, Sam in shotgun and Dean pounding out a rhythm on the steering wheel; Winchesters in their natural habitat.

The sun is high as they roll down the Western slope of the Appalachians. Passing like a shadow through the Ohio River Valley they drive on towards the plains. Five hundred miles a day pass under the hissing tires. All is good in the Winchester world.

Passing from Illinois to Iowa they run into a line of thunder storms. Driving in the sun they can see far in the distance the dark and heavy clouds rolling towards them. The temperature drops by twenty degrees and a chill invades the car. They can see lighting strikes crashing between ground and sky, flashing on the bottoms of the grey-black rain clouds

They drive forward to meet the storm, the speed of the car balanced against the speed of the wind. Hail begins to pelt the windows, heavier and faster as the main line of storms approaches. It finally gets so heavy Dean decides it is safer to park under an approaching underpass. He feels lucky to have found it as the hail has become dangerous

They sit out the passing storm line and eventually are joined by other travelers. They huddle together under the highways' temporary shelter, like the birds in the girder overhead. All creatures, feathered and otherwise, wait for the storm to pass, in momentary communion.

After the heaviest of the rain passed, Dean pulled out on to the wet pavement. After spending the previous days in overly humid heat, driving in the cold front provided blessed relief. Tempers cooled and even the car ran better. Radio reception sucked, however, with all the electricity in the atmosphere. Before Dean reached for a tape, Sam decided he better play tour guide. He wouldn't have a better opportunity.

"Are you interested in where we're going? Or do you just want to listen to the car hum?"

"O.K., Sammy, I can tell you are just dying to fill up my head with more information than I'll ever need to know. Go on, geek out. I can tell you are just about ready to burst with Professor Sam." Dean petted the dashboard and put the top of his head out the window to feel the wind pull at his hair.

"Well," Sam started. "First of all you have your choice. You can head for Montana, take Route 89 out of Great Falls, and drive north to Calgary then go west to Banff in the foothills of the Rockies. The other path is to go on into Idaho and take Route 95 north out of Bonners Ferry all the way to Golden in Alberta."

"Ninety five out of Idaho is going to take you straight up through the Rockies. The scenery will definitely be interesting, as long as you don't need people or even possibly gas. I don't see a bunch of towns along that road. I could be wrong but it looks scary." Sam rolled his lips together and seemed to reject that route out of hand.

"I think we might want to go up to Calgary first then cross to Banff. Looks like there is a lot more happening along there and the scenery is still spectacular. Just for fun we should spend the night at the Banff Springs Hotel, if we can figure out how to pay for it."

"Why would it be fun to stay at some hotel, Sam? What's there that's blowing up your skirt?"

"Well, it is a huge hotel built in 1888, in the middle of the woods in Scottish Baronial style. It is a major attraction and one of the reasons there even is a Banff. Also, it's haunted."

"What the hell? Is this a hunt? Do you think we should deal with these things?"

"Dean, if you even make a move on these ghosts the Canadian Tourist Bureau will hang you up by your balls. They are famous worldwide, especially the bride that fell down the staircase."

"Great, government protected ghosts. Never heard of that before. Well, we could at least make sure they're real and it's not just a faux tourist trap. I've heard about that bride somewhere before." Dean mused.

Ýeah." Sam confirmed "You've heard about her just about everywhere but this is the original. This is where the legend started and we even have a date when it happened, 1932. She tripped on her wedding gown, fell down the grand staircase and broke her neck. She reportedly dances alone in the dining room and bursts into flames if someone sees her."

"Harsh" Dean smirked. "Her skirt really gets blown up."

"Shut up, you jerk. It's a really sad story."

"Sure is," Dean continued "she didn't even get a chance to get laid. No wonder she bursts into flames."

"The other famous ghost is a bellhop. His name was Sam Macaulay. He died right after announcing his retirement in 1976. Guests and staff claim to have seen him and he is still helping out guests, dressed in full uniform, as if he never left."

Dean snickered "What do you think, Sammy, he still looking for tips or did the afterlife just bore him?"

Sam pursed his lips "He's probably just lost, like the other spirits we've found. I'd like to help him out but people would notice if he went missing and we would probably cause more trouble than we'd solve. There are two more fairly well known spirits. One is a bartender who tells you to stop drinking if you've had too much in his opinion, and orders you to go to bed to sleep it off. Then there is the ghostly Bagpiper, but that one is just too romantic to be believable."

"Well, it sounds like you want to make a stop in Banff, so I guess we're heading for Montana. If this is just the stuff you know about along the way, where the hell are we ending up? "

"We are going into Yoho National Park, on the western slope of the Continental Divide in southeastern British Colombia. Yoho is from the Cree word for awe and wonder. Yoho is the smallest of four contiguous National Parks. Those four, along with three British Colombia provincial parks, Hamber, Mount Assiniboine and Mount Robinson all go together to form the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site, declared in 1984."

"Hold on a minute, Sam. Are you doing this without notes? Where do you keep all this crap? Is there like a dam in your head and all you have to do is pop the cork and this stuff comes rushing out? Well, cap it off and just tell me why we want to go there." Dean huffed.

"I want to sit by the Burgess Shale and time trip back to when it formed. It is 200 million years older than the Carboniferous period and I want to see if Kali, or something, is there." Sam declared. "You are going to go find out what the ghost wolves are doing in the park."

"Christ, Sam! You are looking for God! Have you even given any consideration to what you're going to do if you find it, him, her….. whatever? Are you completely out of your mind? I'm going to turn this car around. I'm not going to let you do this." Dean was yelling and looking for a turn off.

"Oh, yes you are. You're my brother, not my father. I'm not a kid anymore and I can make my own decisions. I grant you, a lot of my choices have been incredibly bad but they are still my choices to make. If you won't take me I'll get out and hitch hike. I'm close enough. I'll find someone willing to be my anchor." Sam lips thinned in anger. "I would rather have you than anyone else. I feel safest with you at my back."

Dean pulled to the side of the road and leaned on the steering wheel. The minutes ticked by as the tension between the brothers slowly dissipated.

"Alright, fine. I'll take you but I don't have to like it " Dean calmed. "Better me than some stranger trying to pull your ass out of trouble."


	5. Chapter 5 - Sam Dances with the Lady

Sam and Dean Winchester belong to Kripke Enterprises, Inc. and the CW, not me. I would give them a home if they needed it and they were real. I promise to put them back when my story is done.

**A/N **Please go look at the Banff Springs Hotel web site before you read the story. The world will not see its' like again. The time is past when a corporate sponsor would say "Here, take all the money you need and go build us a castle in the woods".

Chapter 5

Sam Dances with the Lady

_Life, so they say, is not a game and we let it slip away. Love, like the Autumn sun, should be dyin' but it's only just begun. Like the twilight in the road up ahead, they don't see just where we're going'. And all the secrets in the universe, whisper in our ears, and all the years will come and go, take us up, always up._

_We may never pass this way again. We may never pass this way again._

_We may never pass this way again._

_Dreams, so they say, are for the fools and they let 'em drift away. Peace, like the silent dove, should be flyin' but it's only just begun. Like Columbus in the olden days, we must gather all our courage. Sail our ships out on the open sea. Cast away our fears. And all the years will come and go, and take us up, always up._

_We may never pass this way again._

_Lyrics by James Seals; music by James Seals & Dash Crofts, 1973_

The Impala rumbled away the miles, leaving Iowa's fields behind and crossing the bottom of South Dakota. Under her wheels flashed grassland and pasture. Passing through Chamberlain, they dove between the Indian Reservation lands of the Cheyenne and the Crow heading westward like a black arrow, ever aimed at the Western sun.

They nipped the corner of Wyoming at the edge of the Thunder River National Grasslands and began to drift northward toward Sheridan.

Sam and Dean alternately slept and squabbled and listen to music. They drove in and out of the range of radio stations, necessitating frequent and annoying station changes as one signal dimmed and another overrode. Tele evangelists feuded on the radio waves with country music, farm reports and weather stations, driving Dean once more to his tapes.

The clear air and the dome of the bright blue cloudless sky enabled them to see clearly distant vistas. The Rockies flashed their peaks in and out of sight but steadily rose into the sky in sync with the pounding of rock n' roll.

After Sheridan they entered Montana and once again turned west to face the mountains. After skirting Butte they again went north towards Great Falls, Montana's "City of Lights".

Great Falls gets its' name from a series of five waterfalls along the upper Missouri River. Each falls has its' own hydroelectric dam today. For a small city of only approximate 60 thousand people, Great Falls lights up the Montana landscape. This is an old land. The first humans that settled here were Paleo-Indians who migrated into the area between 9,500 BCE and 8,270 BCE.

Sam was fascinated but Dean was immediately bored and they never stopped. Sometimes Sam just hated his brother but Dean was right. If they stopped for everything that Sam found interesting, they would never get to the end of their journey.

They shot out of Great Falls in the early morning, aimed at the city of Calgary. Now they drove due north and the Rocky Mountains claimed their westward view with soaring grace. The land cried out to be admired, beautiful beyond the ability of man to mirror.

Landscapes like this created dreams of swift winged eagles and bounding deer in high meadows. If it were possible for man to abandon their cities this is where they were made to live.

Driving north they watched the City of Calgary rise up from the grasslands, its' shining high-rises and office towers a surprise on this open prairie. More than a million people live in Calgary. A thoroughly modern city it is known worldwide for the annual Calgary Stampede, a hundred year old agricultural festival. People have lived on Calgary's site for 11,000 years.

Once again Dean blew by without even a glance, concerned only with the road. Sam watched the city fly by but he was as eager as Dean when they turned directly west again, heading straight for the Rockies. Banff lay 80 miles away.

They steadily climbed the foothills and rose into the forests. Their first view of the Banff Springs Hotel was a shock comparable to being doused with ice water. A castle nestled in the woods with mountain crags as back drop.

"Holy hell, Sam." Dean gasped. "What is this doing here?"

"This was built in 1888 by the Canadian Pacific Railway at the orders of its president, William Cornelius Van Horne. It was extensively re-built in 1911 and the old wood building was replaced with a new building faced with stone." Sam intoned, sounding like a tour guide. Dean thought maybe ' Professor Sam' was trying to be funny.

"OK, so we are going to try to stay here?" Dean sounded doubtful.

"If we can afford $300.00 a night, we can. The hotel changed its' focus and doesn't cater exclusively to the rich these days. As a matter of keeping the doors open they actively encourage group tours and eco-tourists now. We can get away with being nature hikers, if you can keep your snarky remarks to yourself. We need to sign in. That's the only way we are going to get to see their ghosts."

"Why do we want to see their ghosts, Sam? It's not like we are going to be able to get rid of them."

Sam looked at his hands lying loosely in his lap instead of looking at his brother. "Dean, I just want to know if they are trapped or not. If there is some way that we can help, if help is needed, I would like to try."

"Ah, Sammy is being Mr. Emo again." Dean snickered. "We really have to find out if there's an empathy cure out that that you can take."

"Keep it to yourself, jerk. Find a place to park the car. Do we have enough money to pull this off?"

"Now, Sam, don't get your panties in a twist. Don't worry princess. I'll take care of getting you into your castle. "

They grabbed their duffels and made their way into the main lobby. They stopped at the bottom of the Grand Staircase.

"That's what she fell down." Sam whispered to his brother.

"Yeah, those marble steps would certainly do the job." Dean responded.

They made their way on to the desk and Dean smiled at the desk clerk, who didn't look like he really believed that they were going to ask for a room. He pursed his lips and tried to look down his nose at guys who were taller than him.

"Hi there, can you come up with a double for me and my brother?" Dean smiled and ignored the clerk's attitude. "Does the hotel run any hiking tours up into the parks? Or do we just drive up on our own?'

The desk clerk seemed a little uncomfortable at the question. "We do normally run hiking tours and there may be one setting out tomorrow. I'll have to check. The park service has been having a little trouble with some of the trails. First though, do you have reservations?."

"I heard about that." Dean responded. "Something about wolves? I didn't think this was wolf territory. What's the story? And no, we don't have reservations. But I bet you can find something somewhere. I mean, look at the size of the place. Hard to believe that it's all booked up. By the way, if it will make you happy, we're paying cash."

The clerk grabbed control of his attitude, most likely remembering the hotel's protocol on embracing eco-tourists and handed them the registration cards. "Even as cash guests the hotel requests I.D. and a credit card on file to complete registration. Will that be a problem?" the clerk told them with a momentary return to his snotty attitude,

Dean stared him down. "It's not going to be a problem unless you make it one. Try to remember your hotel management classes and go with the happy face."

The clerk folded and accepted their cards back, the money and their I.D. Dean had turned over their real I.D. and card so there weren't any fancy false names in use. He figured they were in a foreign country, why take any chances? He didn't need to tour the Canadian jail system.

Just as they collected their keys, Dean's phone went off. Dropping into a chair he answered.

"Hello, Dean?" said a voice he didn't recognize immediately. "It's Paul Kraft. From the camp grounds."

"Oh, hey Paul." Dean clued in. "Everything still OK? You aren't having any more trouble, are you?"

"No, it's not that. I'm real pleased. It's been completely quiet. But I thought I'd warn you. I've been telling people what a great job you guys did here and yesterday three men showed up."

"Rough looking crew, mountain men types, if you know what I mean. Ugly mugs and they were asking questions about you and, in particular, about Sam. Sounded like they didn't like him much. They asked me if I knew where you had gone. Tried to tell me that they wanted your help but it was such a lie. I didn't believe them for a minute. I told them that I heard you talking about the Rocky Mountains but that was all I know. Though it was best to give you a heads up."

"Thanks, Paul. Good to know. It doesn't seem likely they'll find us. The Rockies cover a good amount of ground. I appreciate the call. Thanks." Dean hung up.

"What's up, Dean? Was that Paul from West Virginia? "Sam asked.

"Yeah, Sammy. Looks like hunters are on your trail again. From the description, three ugly liars, sounds like Rafe Cantrell and his cousins. They've been on our butts for a while now. Damn! All the Cantrell litters should have been drown at birth, for the good of the species." Dean snarled.

"Dean! Just a little bit much, isn't that? Really? Drowning newborns? Even for you on a bad day, that's an ugly thought." Sam was shocked.

"Stuff it, Sammy. I have no time for those murdering, sadistic bastards. Put a sock in it."

They went off to their assigned room, tired from the day's travel. Dean threw his duffel on the floor and fell into the bed, fully clothed. Sam went through his whole evening ritual, preparing to go and hunt the flaming bride.

As he drifted off he could hear laughter and the tapping of heels. In the very far off distance he thought he heard the drone of a bagpipe. "Oh, come on!" he thought to himself, "That can't be real. Where the hell would that come from?"

His consciousness drifted down the halls of the hotel, following the whispers of a woman singing. He came to the top of the Grand Staircase and there he saw the bride. She was dressed in a white filmy gown that flowed and wrapped around her, a veil hid her face.

As he stepped forward with his hand outstretched, she ran down the stairs. Half way down she appeared to fall and he ran after her. It did no good. She drifted down to the bottom then picked herself up and began to dance.

With her arms raised she twirled, moving in great swoops on to the dining room, her head thrown back and laughing.

She saw him and beckoned, waving her fingers and calling him over. "Come and dance with me."

Sam went to her, enchanted. Taking her in his arms he joined her dance, moving in great curves. He thought he saw other spirits to the side, admiring her, but he was fully focused on the spirit in his arms.

"Who are you, sir? Who do you seek? Do you seek the Goddess?"

"What Goddess? You are only a spirit, dancing still in the trauma of your wedding that never happened." Sam questioned. "What possible Goddess could you serve?"

"Look out at the hillsides here. Is it not perfect for her? If she is called Artemis or Diana or Venus she still looks for her King of the Wood. Could you not answer her?" The spirit looked him fully in the face, challenging him to reply.

"I have no idea how this has happened to you." Sam replied. " You were just a normal girl, about to marry her sweetheart. How could you have come to this fate, where you are a handmaiden to ancient Gods? And, no, no way will I even consider becoming the King of the Wood. I know that story and where it leads. My life is my own, not hers."

The ghost stripped away her beguiling face, leaving a skull with grinning teeth. Sam drew back as she burst into flames and disappeared.

He snapped back to his bed and awoke. He didn't know what they could do about this specter. He didn't think she would leave voluntarily. He would have to discuss it with Dean.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**ANOTHER A/N: **I woke up this morning to find that the landscape of my chapter is under water. The Great Calgary flood of 2013 has drown South Alberta. The City of Calgary is flooded. 100,000 Canadians have been driven from their homes. A new meme spreads on the internet; Kevan Yeats and his swimming cat Momo. All our good wishes go to the people of Canada.


	6. Chapter 6 - The King of the Wood

Sam and Dean Winchester are the property of Kripke Enterprises, Inc. and the CW. I write this story for my own amusement, not for profit

**A/N – **Please, I need to know if you like this story. I look to the reviews to see what needs to improve and what readers want to see. I also get an idea of what works and what doesn't. I appreciate your thoughts. To the people who have already helped me out, and you know who you are, thank you all.

Chapter Six

The King of the Wood

_Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted, to understand than to be understood, to love than to be loved. For it is by forgetting self that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life._

_Prayer of Saint Francis _

"Alright, Sam" Dean pointed at his brother. "Tell me again. What exactly did she say?"

Sam stiffened at his brother's tone. "She asked me who I was and if I was seeking the Goddess. She said that the Goddess, Artemis or Diana or Venus, whoever, was looking for her King of the Wood and if I would answer"

Dean snorted, "So this Goddess, whatever her name is, wants you to offer to be a King of the Wood?' his snort turned into a snicker.

Sam tossed his hair out of his eves and huffed. "The King of the Wood, Dean. There is only one at a time."

"What did you say? You don't get to say yes." Dean stood and stomped over to the window. "I don't remember a whole lot about classical mythology but I have a feeling this King of the Wood gig doesn't end well. Haven't you learned yet to think before you throw yourself at another female monster?"

"Dammit Dean, I know!" That's why I told her no. But it just seemed to piss her off. She did a real nasty face change, showed her teeth and went up in flames." Sam ran his hands through his hair and stood up to pace. Now both Winchesters were antsy and pacing.

'I'm worried that she won't take no for an answer, Sam." Dean turned from the window and crossed his arms. "I swear, I'm going to get one of those kid harnesses with a leash and tie you down at night. OK, what do we know about this monster?"

"Don't threaten me. Dean. I'm not a kid anymore."

"Dammit, Sam, I just want you to stay alive. What's with these women? Kali and now Diana and your crispy critter bride. Why you? Don't they know about Sammy's Dick of Doom? It should be freaking famous by now with the body count you've racked up."

"Ah, crap." Dean knew down to his toes that he had gone too far.

Sam stopped and stared at his brother. "You bastard. You're going to throw that in my face?"

"Sammy," Dean went on, displaying a total lack of common sense. "If you got laid more and didn't want meaning with your sex maybe you could rub off some of the innocence that these monsters find so attractive. You don't see them chasing me around, do you?" Dean shouted.

"Keep it down, Mr. Sensitive. You're scaring the guests. I don't need your advice on my sex life. You have nothing to brag about. As a matter of fact, your attitude is about the same as these monsters. Use 'em and leave 'em." Sam snarled.

"Alright, let's tone it down a notch," Dean threw himself on the bed. "Yelling at each other isn't helping and keep your prudish opinions to yourself. I give as good as I get and hardly any of my playmates end up dead."

"Don't start up again, Dean. I mean it. I can't be like you with your never ending one night stands and meaningless hook ups, scattered along your days like trash beside the highway."

"Alright, that's enough!" Dean snapped back. "I won't pick on your bizarre sex life if you leave mine out of the conversation. Let's start getting a handle on this hunt, if a hunt it is."

They both moved to the table by the window. Outside was a mind numbing view of the Canadian Rockies, peaceful, soaring and soul soothing; rising into the sky with a profound indifference to the bickering and arguments of men.

Sam went to the little refrigerator and snagged them both beers. He handed one to Dean who popped the top off with his ring, and then sat down. The beers contributed to a cooling off of the hair trigger tempers of both Winchesters.

Dean stared out the window. "Tell me what you know about this King of the Wood deal. Is it dangerous?"

Sam sipped at his drink. "It could be. I never heard of anyone being enticed to sign up like this."

"The King of the Wood myth is common through the world in various guises. Before the rise of the patriarchal religions of the Jews, Christians, Romans and others, human representations of Gods were usually female. Goddesses were worshiped as symbols of fertility and abundance. Placating them lead to easier lives and full stomachs for their worshippers."

Sam stopped and gave serious consideration to his next statement.

"Of course, the Goddess could not fulfill her function without a male to fertilize her."

"Oh, God, Sam," Dean shut his eves and bowed his head. "Don't tell me you are going to go there."

"Shut up, you wanted to know what this was about." Sam picked at the label on his bottle. "Some cultures outright sacrificed a male. More sophisticated cultures would name him a Priestly King for a specific period; a week, a month, a year, and then cut his throat at the end of it. This usually happened in a place sacred to the Goddess so his blood was pledged to her."

"Ancient Kings were commonly described as priests. His divine aspect wasn't an empty title but a true belief, like the Pharaohs. They were revered as intercessors between men and the Gods and, as Gods themselves, were able to bestow blessings on their people. If things went bad, it was his fault, and he became a sacrifice."

'With the cult of Diana, this was carried to an extreme. In Diana's sacred grove at Nemi in Italy there existed a particular tree of which no branch was allowed to be broken. Only a runaway slave could break a branch and this gave him the right to challenge Diana's priest in single combat. If the slave killed the priest he became The King of the Wood until another defeated him. This priesthood by combat continued throughout Roman times all the way up to the end of the Empire." Sam took a breath.

Dean sighed. "Enough. I am totally filled up on this crap. What do they want of you?'

Sam went on. "I think she has lost her King of the Wood. What the hell a classical Goddess is doing in the Canadian Rockies, I have no idea, but I feel like a target. Even if I say no and manage to make it stick, what happens to the next guy who dances with the bride?"

They sat and thought about it.

"I don't suppose we can find her bones?" Dean suggested.

"I thought about that. The hotel registration records don't go back that far. Why would they? I don't know her name or where in the world she was from. The Banff newspaper didn't exist and it was only a blurb in the Calgary paper. I was lucky to find that. They only referred to the Manchester nuptials being cancelled due to the untimely death of the bride. I suppose the hotel put pressure on to keep it from being a big deal. Didn't want to upset the rich visitors, I guess." Sam worried a hangnail.

"I could try talking to her, but what could I offer that would beat out being handmaiden to a Goddess? Besides, I think we might get thrown out if anyone finds out what we're up to. The only idea I could come up with would be some kind of binding ritual to shut her mouth. I suspect she can only talk to a sensitive, and how many eligible men are going to wander through? She's lucky to find me."

"Where are we going to come up with a ritual like that?" Dean asked. "Unless there has been a vast expansion of available sources on the internet, I don't think you're just going to be able to Google it."

"Well, I was going to call Garth and see what he could send me." Sam looked at his brother through hooded eyes. Sam knew Dean was sensitive about putting Garth in Bobby's traditional role.

"You know what," Dean said "go ahead and do that and while you're talking to him ask him to try and find out where that idiot Rafe Cantrell and his cousins might be. I don't even want those guys in the same country as me. I know they're looking for you. With Rafe on one side and a cranky sex deprived Goddess on the other, we might be in a bit of trouble."

Sam picked up his cell to place the call to Garth.

Dean went back to the window. He wondered if it would be a good idea for him to try and meet the flaming bride himself that night. With luck he thought he might be able to redirect her attention from Sam to him. He was pretty confident that he could beat out his brother for the title of Warrior Priest.


	7. Chapter 7 - Constraining the Bride

Sam and Dean Winchester and any other random Supernatural characters like Garth, belong to Kripke Enterprises, Inc. and the CW, not me. I won't damage them and I'll put them back when I'm done.

Sons of the Morning

Chapter 7

Constraining the Bride

I _call upon the archangel Gabriel, Master of the Air, to make open the way. Let the fire of the Holy Spirit now descend that this soul might be awakened to the world beyond._

Christian prayer for the Dead

_Thy mouth was closed, but I have set in order for thee thy mouth and thy teeth. I open for thee thy mouth. I open for thee thy two eyes. I have opened for thee thy mouth with the instrument of Anubis…The dead shall walk and shall speak and his body shall be with the great company of the gods._

From the Egyptian Book of the Dead (The Papyrus of Ani)

Transliteration and Translation by E.A. Wallis Budge; 1895

Garth had sent them the details and minor ingredients for a binding ritual that could be used for sealing the lips of spirits, ghosts and, sometimes, in very special cases, even people. The Winchesters hoped that it would work on the flaming bride. At this point they really didn't have an answer to Diana's evocation of the King of the Wood but they thought they might try to get the bride to at least shut her mouth until they had a more permanent solution.

Garth also called Dean that afternoon to say that no one seemed to know where Rafe Cantrell and his cousins had disappeared to. The trio had very few friends, only acquaintances and most people were usually glad to see their backs. If he could find anything out he promised to get back to Dean as soon as he could. Garth knew how dangerous these men were to Sam. Garth kept to himself the recent rumors that maybe Dean also was more than he pretended to be. Among some hunter communities the thought was spreading that it might be wise to take out both the Winchesters at once.

"You know, Dean, even if this works I don't know that we will ever find anything that will block Diana's summoning. This has been going on for thousands of years, in multiple cultures. It's like trying to stop the rain." Sam said looking over their assembled materials.

Sam and Dean were sneaking down the hotel's corridors, carrying a brass bowl of crushed spices that they intended to set on fire to summon the bride to the top of the stairs and, hopefully, make her appear to Dean. Then Sam had a short spell to recite.

"Sam," Dean huffed. "One problem at a time. Let's concentrate on containing the bride and then we'll concentrate on Diana and her weird Help Wanted ad. I wonder if she has ever tried on-line dating."

Sam snorted. "Very funny. Here's another thought. When we fire this bowl up the hotel's smoke alarms are going to go off and bring the roof down on us."

"We're just going to have to disable them." Dean replied. "Good thought though. I really, really don't want to try and explain this to Mr. Stick Up His Ass. He'll not just throw us out, he'll see to it that we are put away 'somewhere safe' so we don't bother the other guests, and be thrilled to do it."

They reached their destination without running into anyone. Dean looked around for the smoke detectors.

"Crap, Sam, look where they are." Dean grumbled.

The Grand Staircase had an arched ceiling and the detectors were about 12 feet up on either side of the top step.

"You know, Dean, six foot plus six foot equals the necessary twelve. We don't have a ladder but if you climb up on my shoulders I think you can reach them." Sam put out his hands linked together like a stirrup. "Alley-oop."

"Damn," griped Dean "I don't like this. Don't drop me. Why can't I be on the bottom?"

"Don't be an ass. Get up there. You know that I'm stronger and heavier than you. In this instance you get to be the little brother. Come on, moved it before we get caught. And what if the bride shows up? Stop arguing and let's get this job done. I think you should just take them down; don't pull the batteries out. We'll leave on the desk for the clerk. He can try to figure out how they got there. I don't want to be responsible for burning the hotel down."

"Alright, fine." Dean toed off his boots and swarmed up his brother like a monkey. "I never want this mentioned again." He tossed the first smoke alarm on to a convenient chair and climbed down. They cleared the other side and sat down to wait for the bride.

Sam lifted the brass bowl and stirred the contents with his finger. They had painted on the bottom of the bowl a cartouche enclosing the Coptic word for bride, since they didn't know her name.

The bowl contained a mixture of sea salt and baking soda as a substitute for natron, since they were too far away from the Wadi Natrun to obtain the real stuff. They had added small amounts of Kohl made from ground galena and malachite that Garth had sent via Fedex along with the written instructions and the chant and a small ceremonial copper adze. The customs declaration simply read "cosmetics". The mixture was completed with sprinklings of cinnamon and cloves and flammable dry leaves and flower petals to create smoke. With all the salt Sam was sure it would burn like a champ.

He pulled the chant, written on papyrus, of course, from his pocket and read it over again. Garth had done a phonetic translation of the unfamiliar words for them and Sam had memorized it last night.

"You know, Dean," Sam whispered. "Garth has done a hell of a job on this ritual. I'm pretty sure he created it himself from fragments of Egyptian magic."

"The basic idea is to do a reversal of the Egyptian "Opening of the Mouth" funerary rite. Originally the rite was performed over a newly made mummy so that the eyes and mouth of the spirit were opened and it could see and talk to the Gods. Here we are going to summon her by burning these basic mummification ingredients. You need to touch her, preferably on the lips if she's wearing them tonight, with this copper adze and I will perform a nullification of the rite."

"If we are really lucky, not only will this close her mouth so she can't lure other potential candidates for King of the Wood, but also it could sever her connection to Diana. She could no longer serve Diana because she won't be able to see or hear the Huntress."

"Damn." Dean replied. "And Garth didn't even have a complete description of the problem. We'll have to congratulate him on his work. Maybe we'll add him to our Christmas card list. Or we would, if we had one."

"Get over it, Dean. Bobby's gone and we are damn lucky to have Garth step up to the plate. As long as you can get by his unfortunate appearance, and personality, and choice in music, and….clothes sense..."

"Stop, Sam." Dean sighed. "Let's leave the list there and agree that he has his uses. I promise not to steal his hat anymore."

Sam's watch buzzed. "OK, three o'clock, witching hour. Let's light it up and see what we get."

Sam lit up the bowl's contents. The salt burned with a blue flame and fragrant smoke curled up. The tendrils of smoke floated over the top of the stairs and the bride was outlined, made visible to Dean. He saw her turn and run down the stairs, doing her usual ungainly trip about half way down.

Once again she floated to the bottom and then picked herself up and started her dance.

Dean followed her down to the main floor and when she stretch out her hand he took it and swing the ghostly form in to his arms. They circled the dining room as she went into her questions, "Who are you? What do…."

Right then Dean heard Sam start the chant. He took the ceremonial adze from his back pants pocket and tried to tap her on the lips. She drew back her head in surprise and he narrowly missed, striking her cheek. As Sam had said before, it did not seem to matter and as the chant went on her eyes grew huge and angry. Her lips moved but no sound can out.

Dean smiled at her "What's the problem? I am not going to say 'cat got your tongue 'because for all I know, Bastet just might have it." Dean could still hear Sam's voice droning in the background.

The ancient magic snapped through the air, running prickly fingers up Dean's spine and raising the hair on the back of his neck. He back pedaled away from her as she began to transform.

The bride's face stripped down to the bones and she started to burn. Her naked teeth gnashed and moved but nothing came out in spite of all her efforts. Now she appeared furious. She reached for Dean, her fingers spiking flames. Sam's voice stopped.

"Dean, get away from her." Sam ordered. "It's not safe! I have no idea what happens next." He sounded panicked.

Dean ran back up the steps and held on to Sam's arm. They were ready to flee but turned back to see what happened next, unwilling to let this force tear rampant though the unprotected hotel. She was fully engulfed in flames that licked up toward the ceiling. She looked up and raised her hands. The whole vision suddenly disappeared, leaving not even smoke behind.

"Do you think she's gone?" Dean asked.

"No." Sam answered. "I think she's still here and will be back tomorrow night but we have pulled her fangs temporarily."

"If she is capable of continuous thought at all she may figure out that she lost something but might not know what it was. In time the frustration may turn her vengeful but time is a very fluid factor in the spirit world. She may go bad tomorrow. She may go bad in a century. I'm pretty confident that if she does turn vengeful and starts pushing people down the stairs, we or some other hunters will hear about it and put her down somehow. By that time the hotel will be glad to get rid of her and will welcome our kind with open arms. Right now all we're going to get is Mounties down our necks."

"To tell the truth," Sam continued, "I'm a lot more concerned about what the Diana spirit will do next. If she can't get a live one because we have crippled her virgin handmaiden, she may try to deal with it herself. I'm pretty sure she can only capture spirits. I really don't want to be the next guy who dies near this forest."

They gather up their materials and started back to their room. All they left behind was a sweet, smoky smell in the lobby.

The next morning found them in the dining room for breakfast. It looked a lot different at nine AM as compared to three in the morning. On their way in they had passed the desk and the clerk had stopped them. For a minute Dean had frozen in place, waiting for an accusation but all the desk clerk wanted to tell them was there was a hiking trip set up.

"If you gentlemen are still interested, the Forest Service has a tour leaving early tomorrow morning. Here are a couple of brochures and you will find the guides set up here in the lobby later this morning."

"Yes, we are interested," Sam replied and gave the man a narrow lipped smile. "It is good of you to remember."

The clerk smirked back like the one thing that was going to make his day was going to be getting them out of his sight for a day. "No problem at all gentlemen. The hotel is here to cater to your needs."

Dean's eyebrows almost disappeared into his hair line. As they walked away he said to Sam "Now I know exactly what 'mealy mouthed' means."

Sam looked at him "insincere, devious, hypocritical…."

"Stop, Sam. It was a joke, OK? God, what box did they fish you out of, miscellaneous parts?" Dean just shook his head and kept walking.

Once seated, Dean asked, "Are we ready to walk the mountains tomorrow? This looks like it might be a hard days' work. Nice waterfalls though, and they are packing a big lunch."

"Dean, you know we aren't going to be sticking around for lunch. We're going to ditching this tour group as soon as we have any indication of closed off trails. That's where we're going to find these spirit wolves. If you think you're going to starve to death, put something in your back pack." Sam rolled his eyes at his brother. "You and your stomach are actually two different people, aren't you?"

"Shut up Sam."

Dean continued reading the brochure. "Hey, they're taking a bus up to the drop-off point. I'm not riding in a bus with a bunch of eco-hikers. I'll get a map and we'll drive up."

Sam was involved in his breakfast. "OK, fine. Go find the sign up desk and get your information lined up. I leave it all up to you."


	8. Chapter 8 - In the Boreal Forest

The Supernatural characters in this story belong to Kripke Enterprises, Inc. and the CW, not me. I am only playing with them and promise to put them back when I'm done.

Sons of the Morning

Chapter 8

In the Boreal Forest

_Once in his life a man ought to concentrate his mind upon the remembered earth. He ought to give himself up to a particular landscape in his experience, to look at it from as many angles as he can, to wonder upon it, to dwell upon it._

_He ought to imagine that he touches it with his hands at every season and listens to the sounds that are made upon it._

_He ought to imagine the creatures there and all the faintest motions of the wind. He ought to recollect the glare of the moon and the colors of the dawn and dusk._

N. Scott Momaday

Early the following morning they checked out of the hotel, much to the relief of their favorite clerk who stood at the reception desk eyeballing a couple of smoke detectors.

"No. Leroy," he said to a maintenance worker equipped with a ladder. "I don't know how they got down. Maybe they fell off. Maybe one of you didn't put them up right. I don't know."

"Where did you find them, Cubby? Were they on the floor?" the guy with the ladder asked.

"No, they were on the red chair at the top of the stairs, like somebody put them there. I don't know. Just put them back up."

Evidently, Mr. Stick Up the Ass's name was, unbelievably,' Cubby'.

"So, Cubby," Dean smirked. "We're on our way out but I think you owe us some money."

The clerk gave Dean a narrow eyed look and then glanced at the smoke detectors.

Dean gave him back a huge grin and the clerk knew instantly that the brothers had something to do with his little mystery but he had no idea what it could be.

"Say," Dean went on. "We're heading out on that Forest Service hike. Can the kitchen make us up a picnic lunch?" Dean took the refund off the desk and stuffed it in his wallet.

"Thank you, gentlemen, I hope you enjoyed your stay. If you just tell the dining room waitress what you want I'm sure they will take care of you. Please do think of staying with us again if you should return to the area."

It was obvious that the little Public Relations spiel was ashes in his mouth.

"Oh, we liked it so much we are planning to come back every summer. We're going to become real good friends, Cubby." Dean gave him a hundred watt smile again, just to see him twitch.

Sam poked him in the side. "Come on Dean, it's getting late, we need to get on the road."

As they walked way Sam said "You having a real good time making him suffer, Renfield? Maybe I can find a few flies so you can pull the wings off."

"Shut up, Sam. I take my fun wherever I can find it. He deserves it anyway, the idiot." Dean was all sass and strut on his way into the dining room.

A few hours later they were in the Impala, driving the Tarns-Canada Highway through the Bow Valley on their way to Takakkaw Falls in Yoho National Park.

Their route ran along the Boreal Forest floor, passing herds of Elk, cropping the grasses. The heads of the elk drew up, assessing the Impala's predator status. Judging it to be just another one of those noisy things that ran on the hard path, they returned to grazing. The herd was made up of cows and spring born calves, with a few yearlings thrown in. Overhead raptors, including a Golden Eagle, circled looking for prey.

"Where are the antlers? I though Elk had antlers." Dean pouted.

"These herds are all females, gathered together for protection against predators." Sam answered. "This time of year the males have lost their antlers and are off grazing alone. After breeding they are pretty much useless. The cows don't want them around causing trouble."

Dean snorted, "And you accuse me of having a use 'em and leave 'em attitude. Looks natural to me."

"Are you comparing yourself to a bull Elk? You should have slightly higher aspirations." Sam turned and continued to watch the landscape. He was hoping for a Moose to impress Dean, but didn't see any of the elusive and solitary seven foot tall deer. Dan would like them; they were huge and obviously masculine.

"Sam, where are we going?"

"We're going to cross the Continental Divide and move into British Columbia. Our goal is Takakkaw Falls. Behind the falls and uphill is where these spirit wolves have been reported."

Dean giggled. "Say it again, Sam"

"What are you going on about now? " Sam responded, annoyed by the slaughtered movie line reference. One that Dean had used way too many times in way too many situations. And it was a line that actually wasn't even in the movie. It was a misquotation of "Play it, Sam. Play _As Time Goes By"._

"You know. The Tak-ka-ka-kaw Falls. Makes you sound like a crow."

"Shut up, Dean. It's an Indian name. Get over it." Sam responded in a huff.

Silence reigned in the car with only occasional muffed snorts out of Dean. Sam elected to ignore him and go back to looking at the scenery.

And the scenery was well worth looking at. Here along the forest floor were stands of Douglas fir, white spruce, aspen and popular. They lined the banks of a multitude of icy streams, cascading over rocky, glacier scoured outcroppings creating mini waterfalls and rapids. Here the summer heat encouraged rodents and rabbits and squirrels and other less pleasant inhabitants like black flies. Every creature was active, eating and storing food against winter.

Boreal forests make up about a third of the forests of the earth. They are larger than the more popular rainforests but just as important. The forests cover about 12 million square kilometers, two thirds of which is in Eurasia. In Russia it is known as the taiga. The balance of the Boreal Forest mass is in Canada.

The forest is the ring of life just south of the Arctic Circle. Where the Arctic air mass touched, the forest flourished. From the Atlantic to the Pacific Canada's forests hold a burgeoning mass of life and species known only there.

They drove on higher and higher up from the forest floor into the conifer forests, looking at the mountain tops glistening with glaciers. Craggy rock faces ignored the swarming life forms below and warmed in the sun. Melting glaciers sent water to feed the rushing streams. The conifer forests marched up the mountain sides to the tree line and after that came the subalpine and alpine ecosystems. Stark and cold they are home to the little pika, or rock rabbit, and the thoroughly unpleasant horary marmot, along with grizzly bears. Crowning all were the glaciers, sparkling in the sun.

The air was full of birds. The high piercing cries of the raptors, the Golden Eagle, Red-tailed Hawks, occasionally even a Bald Eagle, rang against the rock faces. Blue jays and woodpeckers flitted about with smaller birds like ever present sparrows. The urgency of the short summer, the movement on the land and in the air, lent a sense of busy life throughout the landscape.

They drove on, following the tourist friendly signs down the western slope of the continental divide to the meeting place at Takakkaw Falls, the headwaters of the Yoho River. The Forest Services' selected path was beside the Yoho on to where it joined with the Kicking Horse River. It was a full day's hike to the campground in Kicking Horse Pass. Kicking Horse got its' name when a pack horse kicked Sir James Hector in the chest while they were fording the river in 1858. The Palliser Expedition was mapping out the route for the Canadian Pacific Railway, which was completed in 1884, joining the east and west coasts of Canada. The modern Trans-Canada Highway followed the same path.

Dean parked the Impala in a somewhat hidden section of the parking area and they joined up with the tour. They tried to look interested in the droning of the tour guide but were actually looking around for signs of closed trails on the north side of the park. The pounding of the waterfall, glacier fed and over 250 feet high, masked their conversation easily.

As the Rangers rounded up their tour members and started them off down the river path, Sam and Dean drifted further and further back in the crowd and then slipped to the North side of the lot where they had seen "Trail Closed" signs blocking off some promising paths.

Since they had driven up in their own car they hoped that the Rangers didn't have them included in any head count and wouldn't send out search parties for "missing" tourists. They faded into the tress and silently slipped up the rising trail.

A tough climb lead them up to the top of the waterfall and then the trail took off into the trees. The ground was spongy under their feet and cushioned their footfalls. Dean was aware that this texture of the ground would also mask the sound of anything approaching them and they set up alternating scans of the area around them.

As they were buried under the branches of the conifers they also occasionally scrambled up a tree, just to keep some idea of where they were in relation to the falls and the stream that fed it. Between the alerts and marking trees as they passed, they felt comfortable about not getting lost.

They had started in Banff at eight in the morning. The drive and assembly in the parking lost had probably taken up another forty five minutes. Even so, Dean was surprised that his watch showed noon. He didn't feel like he had been walking for three hours.

"Hey, Sam," Dean called. "We're in at least a mile or more. It's lunch time. Let's stop at the next clearing and set down and eat."

Sam nodded his agreement. Dean noticed that somewhere along the way his brother had picked up a nice branch to use as a staff. Thinking that it was a good idea, Dean started looking for his own staff.

As they hiked even deeper into the forest a thought crossed Sam's mind, "Hey Dean."

"What?" drifted back to him. Dean was out in front by about twenty feet.

"You know we've been walking for about three hours now. I think we are in pretty good shape and, to tell the truth, I'm getting a little tired. This trail tends upward gradually but consistently. Did those hikers at the trial head look to you to be in super good shape?"

Dean turned and waited. "No, not particularly. What are you getting at?"

"Well, it seems to me that if casual hikers were being driven off these trails by spirit wolves, we should have run into the damn things long ago. Either we missed them or they have moved deeper into these woods."

"Oh, look," Dean waved his newly acquired walking stick at the scene ahead. "A clearing with a big flat rock in the middle. Looks like lunch time to me." Dean hurried ahead with Sam tagging behind. Later on Dean would realize that it looked not only like lunch but also like a very obvious trap and he would kick himself for missing it.

They reached the flat rock, bathed in sunshine, and set up their food. Diving in they relaxed and ate, comfortable in the afternoon warmth. As Dean sat cross legged, sandwich in one hand and water bottle in the other, he thought he saw a flash of movement in the trees. Sam also lifted his head, catching a flash of his own. They both slowly put down their food and each brother reached for a weapon. They carried their guns in the small of their backs, like usual.

The flashes of movement began to resolve into flickering tails and quickly moving legs. The wolves appeared like smoke with a slight glittering of teeth. They could not really count the animals. As soon as one was brought into focus it broke apart and another called for attention, only to also dissolve. They circled the men, faster and faster. The circumference of the circle also seemed to shrink.

Dean couldn't understand how they could run so fast without hitting the trees. It looked almost like they were passing through the tree trunks and his mind had a problem with that. Sam and Dean rose up and automatically placed themselves back to back to cover all approaches. Even so they were mesmerized by the spinning circle the wolves created.

There was a buzzing in their ears and the spinning of the circle made them feel dizzy and weak. It was almost like falling asleep. Slowly each brother crumbled and slept.

Dean had no idea how long he was out. The sun was still high in the sky and warm. The only thing he knew for sure was that he was looking at an Indian. The guy was unmistakable. He had the nose and a headband holding back long dark hair tied into a club at the back. They only way he could look even more unmistakable was if he had the word "Indian" printed on his forehead.

He leaned over Dean. To add insult to injury Dean was pretty sure the guy was leaning on Dean's walking stick. He poked Dean with the stick.

"Come on, pretty boy." The stranger grinned. "Rise and shine, we're goin' to take a walk. If you're good and behave yourself I'll give you your socks and boots back so you don't have to walk barefoot."

Dean did a quick survey. All that he appeared to have held on to was his blue jeans. Shirt, socks, boots and, most importantly, weapons, were all gone.

"Where's my brother?" he gritted out between clenched teeth.

"Well, you see, that's one of the reasons you are going to behave. Your brother has gone on with some friends of mine. The other reasons are because I have the guns and I have something to say about those wolves you were watching." The man smiled at Dean,

"One of your friends named Rafe Cantrell, by any chance?" Dean glared.

"Nope, never heard of him." The man gave Dean one of Dean's own wide grins." You want to know any more, get moving. We need to get to your Grandfather's camp."

"You mean your Grandfather's camp, don't you?" Dean asked.

"No, your Grandfather. Surprise! You've been adopted. By the way, you can call me Digger for now."

The man grabbed one of Deans' hands and pulled him upright then pushed him off the rock, toward a barely seen path through the trees. Poking Him in the back with the stick, he herded Dean in front of him.


	9. Chapter 9 - The Land of the Nehilawe

The Winchesters and other associated characters belong to Kripke Enterprises, Inc. and the CW, not me.

**Sons of the Morning**

Chapter Nine

The Land of the Nehilawe

_When the first light came, O-ma-ma-ma, the earth mother…gave birth to the spirits of the world. O-ma-ma-ma is a beautiful woman who has always remained pretty although she is older than time itself. She has long black hair and she always smiles on her children, the spirits of the world._

_Her first born was powerful Binay-sih, the thunderbird who protects the animals of the world…The second creature from the womb of O-ma-ma-ma was Oma-ka-ki, the lowly frog who was given sorcerers' powers…Third born was Wes-sa-kay-jac who was given many powers..he could change himself into any shape or form and he created the Nehilawe…the fourth child was Ma-heegun, the wolf._

_After Ma-heegun came Amik, the beaver. Amik should also be respected by our people. It is said that the beavers were once humans on a different world, but evil befell them and they became animals._

_From the Sacred Legends of the Sandy Lake Cree_

_By Carl Ray and James Stevens_

Digger continued to herd Dean towards the trees, but after only a few steps he said "Ok, hold on. Your boots are over under that first pine. You want to go over and get them on before you step in something nasty?"

Dean sat on the mat of pine needles and pulled on his socks and boots. "This doesn't make you a good guy in my book." He grumbled at Digger.

Digger laughed. "Don't worry; I'm not turning into your pal. You cut your feet up and I'll have to carry you and it's quite a ways to camp. Not that I couldn't do it. I just don't want to." His laughter bounced around the trees. Dean swore he could hear the wolves shuffling around in the shade.

"I'll behave as long as you've got my brother. Don't sic your wolf pack on me. Which way?"

"I understand you're supposed to be a hunter. Can't you follow a trail?' He waved the stick at some scuff marks in the pine mat.

Dean moved along the trail. "Who are you people? What do the wolves have to do with you?"

"Our group originally started out as a refuge for the people outsiders call the Cree. We call ourselves the Nehilawe, those who speak the same language. We started coming up here over a hundred years ago. In 1895 the Canadian Government decided that one of our most sacred rites, the Sun Dance, should no longer be performed. The Americans followed with the same prohibition in 1904."

"To know why this started a retreat into these mountains you could compare it to a National Government going to the Catholic Church and saying, guys, love your Mass ritual; pretty costumes, lovely music, appreciate all the artistic decorations but this symbolic drinking of the blood and eating the flesh of your god is disgusting and has to stop. From this day on it is against the law to perform Communion." Digger paused and took a swing at an overhead branch. "The flesh sacrifice is at the heart of the Sun Dance. It symbolizes self-sacrifice for your family and community. Without it the dance loses meaning and is just a pretty ceremony for the tourists."

"That started this camp up. The second round of newcomers came when the government decided that many of our young people were "orphans" and started shipping them off to schools, teaching them to pretend to be white men and forget the social structures of their people. These young people lost their way in a world they did not recognize and now so many of them aren't white but also aren't Nehilawe either."

"They are simply lost, no foundation to build on, no world to be part of. No wonder they turn to drinking and live off Government handouts. As high as eighty percent of some reservation populations live on welfare. "

Dean walked on, trying to judge if Digger was becoming less watchful as he spoke so passionately about the past.

There was a flicker of movement at about Deans' shoulder and he flinched away from a little brown furry face peaking at him from between the branches of a pine. "What the hell is that?"

Digger peered at the animal, "Pine Martin; member of the weasel family, or Shigo-Sih. Relatively harmless but will fight for its' life as necessary, just like everything else. Just leave it alone and don't make sudden movements at it."

"These animals, along with ermine, mink and sable, were the basis for a very profitable fur trade back in the 17 and 18 hundreds and lead directly to a lot of wars and dead natives. Something so valuable the European settlers could not keep their hands off. Wars and broken treaties followed the fur trade. When you threw in the beaver and the bison, there were vast numbers of animals slaughtered. "

"What does this all have to do with me and my brother? Why have you taken us prisoners?"

"I wouldn't call you prisoners." Digger pinched his lip and debated his next words. "You are more like new tribe members."

Dean stared at him. "What the hell, nobody ask us for our permission. What if we don't want anything to do with your tribe?"

"Well, that's going to be a little awkward for you. Your brother is pretty happy about it."

Dean snorted, "He would be. The guy is a total nerd. He has to be squeaking with joy."

"We are happy to greet your brother. He is a natural shaman. We could feel his power as he traveled to us. What we don't understand, is you. You are a total surprise. Grandfather has no idea why the wolves let you through. What gifts do you possess that a pack of wolves would recognize as valuable?" Digger pointed off to the right with a wave of the stick.

Dean could hear people talking and in the middle of the voices he heard Sam's laugh. The tension went out of his shoulders and he hurried forward to find his brother.

He turned and walked backward as he asked Digger "Hey, what about those wolves? You never got to that part. How do you control those spirits?"

"Go, sit with your brother. Ask Grandfather to tell you the story. My job was to get you here." Digger waved the stick at Dean again.

"By the way," Dean complained. "That's my stick you're waving around. Give it back."

Sam was sitting in the dirt with his elbows braced on a fallen tree trunk. He had on his blue jeans and a shirt made of leather. His ankles were crossed and his feet were bare. He pointed his toes at a campfire burning in the center of a circle of people. Directly across the fire was an old man with long grey hair.

Dean pushed his way to his brother and sat on the tree trunk. He parked his elbows on his knees, clasped his hands together and leaned his head forward. "Hey Sammy, what's going on here? What do you know and why is your hair all wet?"

Sam leaned back and grinned at his brother. "One question at a time, Dean. This is great. These people are really friendly and I think we are being accepted into their clan or tribe or family or something. I don't have it clear yet. My hair is wet because I got thrown in the river."

Sam nodded his head at the grey haired man. "That is Grandfather. He runs this group. By the way, don't point at anyone. It is considered extremely rude. I had to learn that at the cost of being wacked with a stick. You get a freebee. No charge, no pain. Now, just listen. He is going to talk about the wolves."

"Sam," Dean said seriously. "You really have to tell me what is going on here before I lose it and create a scene with your new friends."

Sam looked at the grey hair man. "Please excuse us. I need to speak to my brother for a moment." The old man nodded his head and Sam picked up a pair of what looked like leather slippers and put them on. He stood up and took Dean's arm. "Come on; let's move away from here so we don't bother anyone."

"Dean," Sam started with a serious look on his face. "You have to behave."

"You know, I'm getting damn tired of everyone telling me to behave. What am I, some kind of monkey man who can't be trusted not to piss on the rug?" Dean pulled his arm from San's grasp.

"What did you tell 'em, Sam? Don't mind my idiot brother. If he drools on the furniture just smack him upside the head and he'll stop?" Dean crossed his arms and glared.

"Dean, stop it. " Sam ran his hands through is hair. "Look, they knew I was coming. I've been at this for a couple of hours now. They came for me right away but left you there for a while because you were not expected. That's why they left you with Digger. They needed a little time to regroup."

"I've been through their purification ritual all ready. But like I said, they were expecting me. Evidently you 're a big surprise and they don't know exactly how to handle you."

"Why do I need to be handled, Sam? Let's just get the story on the wolves, clear them out and get out of here." Dean was becoming very annoyed.

"Listen, I've been able to find out that after they settled up here for a while they began to attract the supernatural. They regard those wolves as their friends and protectors. The wolves are actually a kind of test. If they let you through you are pretty much invited to join up and stay."

Sam traced a pattern in the dirt with the toe of his slipper. "I kind of like this place, Dean. Can we just stay and listen for a while? I am about to be named by Grandfather. Don't you want to find out what my name will be?"

"You have a perfectly good name, Sam. I'm not going to start calling you something else."

"No, you don't have to. I get to keep my outsider name for when I am not here. You're going to get a new name too, after the purification ritual is complete. I really have to tell you some things about that. Listen we don't have a lot of time before they come for you." Sam took his elbow and pulled Dean further under the trees.

"See that group of women over there?" Sam nodded in the direction of about a dozen women. "They will be coming for you after my naming ritual. They will take you up to the top of a waterfall and strip your clothes off and lay you down in the stream that feeds the waterfall. Cold as hell. Just go with it. They will scape you clean and then give you an emetic to drink. Then they are going to push you over the waterfall. Make sure you get into a dive position. You don't want to cannonball into the water; you'll bust something for sure. Oh, look, they want us back now."

"Sam, that doesn't sound like fun." Dean refused to move. "I don't want to go through with it. Can't we run?"

Sam snorted. "Sure, I'm positive that the wolves can't be any worse than hell hounds. It'll be like old times for you. Just go with it, Dean. It won't kill you. It didn't kill me. As a matter of fact, I feel great. It's like my vision has brightened. I feel lighter and happy. I think you might really need this to happen."

Grandfather rose and waved Sam over. Sam dragged Dean by his elbow again. Dean smacked his hand. "I can walk by myself, Sam. Paws off."

When they got back to the circle Grandfather pulled Sam over to him and said to all the people standing around the fire. "This is our son, Mistahi-Maskwa, Big Bear. Welcome him to us. We all will speak to him in English until his new mother can teach him our language. The most important possession a man or woman can have is children. The more children you have, the happier you are."

"We are blessed in our new children. Mistahi-Maskwa and his brother, who is not yet named, are powerful spirit defenders. They will protect the people from evils like the Windigo and the May-May-Quay-Sih, those lost souls that cannot pass to the next life." Grandfather passed Sam along to the next person in the circle. He was passed from person to person, each one hugging him and kissing him, welcoming him to the family.

Dean stayed back from the circle, not in any mood to hug and kiss his brother. He eyed the group of women that were going to take charge of him. They eyed him right back, giggling and whispering behind their hands.


	10. Chapter 10 - Over the Waterfall

The characters from Supernatural don't belong to me; they belong to Kripke Enterprises Inc. and the CW.

**Sons of the Morning**

Chapter 10

Over the Waterfall

_A meditation on the Meaning of Baptism_

_For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me…Truly, I say to you as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me._

_The words of Jesus Christ as related in the gospel of Matthew_

_Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, (Jesus) answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs that can be observed, nor will they say, "Look, here it is!" Or "There it is!" For the kingdom of God is within you."_

_The words of Jesus Christ as related in the gospel of Luke_

As Dean watched Sam get passed around the Naming Circle he noticed that the group of women he was thinking of as "his" women were gathered together. The last of them had just handed Sam back to Grandfather. They were now giving Dean long, hard stares and, moving as a group, beginning to close in on him.

He looked at them, trying to see them as individual people and not a pack of predators descending on their prey. He noticed that not one of them appeared to be younger than him and a couple of them were decidedly older. These older ones were in charge. They began to encircle him, like hunters, cutting off his escape routes.

"Sam," he called out.

Sam looked back at him, interrupting his conversation with Grandfather, assessed Dean's situation and gave Dean a great big smile. He held his hands up and shook his head from side to side. Dean understood he was getting no help from that direction. Then Grandfather took Sam's elbow and waved in Dean's direction. They walked over to him.

"Dean," Sam said. "This is Nixkamich. It means Grandfather. He has some advice for you."

"No one means you harm, young one. We welcome you in our home and hope we will all become friends." Nixkamich went on. "We have had much discussion about you and what your arrival means to us. It has been a long time since both a Shaman and a Warrior have come to us at the same time. I will not fool you, it has meaning for us. Your appearance warns us of trouble to come. "

"Our tradition is that there are always two different chiefs who appear when necessary. They do not need to come from outside the group. It is more common for one or more of our existing tribesmen to step forward and for potential future chiefs to appear in this manner is disturbing. One fulfills the "peace" position. He is Shaman, politician, diplomat and judge. The other is the "war" chief. He defends the tribe in battle."

Nixkamich held Dean's gaze. "I think you understand what we believe you to be. You are a warning, a guardian, like the Thunderbird, you are a protector."

"Before we can go further you need to be purged of the evils of your previous world. " Nixkamich reached back and one of the women gave him a bowl of white, milky looking fluid. "Take this medicine. Hold on to it. Nadie," he indicated the woman who had handed him the bowl "will let you know when you should drink it. Not before. Be careful and follow her words."

"Dean," Sam gave him a warning look. "This is important. Pay strict attention to what Nadie tells you. Her name means "Wise" and she knows what she is talking about. Now come back with me, Nixkamich is going to talk about the wolves."

They went back and sat in the circle as Dean balanced his bowl on his knee. Nixkamich began to speak.

"The third child of O-ma-ma-ma is named Wee-sa-kay-jac. He is very powerful and can change shapes and become other forms. He is a Trickster, a shape changer and the father of all Nehilawe. He had a dream one night and saw many creatures shaped like him, singing, dancing and pounding on drums. When he awoke, he remembered his dream and decided to make some of these people. They became the Nehilawe, and he became the supernatural native"

"He is also known as the sex manic of the North and is not to be trusted if wives are left unprotected. "

"There are many stories of Wee-sa-kay-jac but one tells of his love for his brother wolf, Ma-heegan. Because Ma-heegan was the little brother of Wee-sa-kay-jac , they often traveled together in the forest. They lived together and their days were full of food and happiness. But then Wee-sa-kay-jac began to dream about some strange animals in the water killing his little brother. One day Ma-heegan did not return from hunting and Wee-sa-kay-jac realized that his dream had come true".

"As he sat beside the river, sobbing for his brother a kingfisher flew close. The bird annoyed him and he snatched it out of the air and ruffled its' feathers so it could not fly. As the bird lay on the ground it chirped softly 'I only wanted to tell you who murdered your brother."

"If you tell me bird, I will smooth out your feathers and give you a gift of a piece of grey and red fur off my shirt. This is why the kingfisher has red and grey fur on its' throat even today."

"Your brother was murdered by three Mishipizhi in the river." The kingfisher told Wee-sa-kay-jac.

"Wee-sa-kay-jac revenged his brother by cutting the heart out of the father Mishipizhi, as Wee-sa-kay-jac was disguised in the skin of a frog. To this day the brother wolves are the friends and protectors of the Nehilawe in gratitude for Wee-sa-kay-jac's revenge for the murder of Ma-heegan."

The oldest of the women surrounding Dean leaned forward and said "The Mishipizhi are demi-gods who live in northern waters. It looks like a panther and is often called the great lynx."

Dean thought to himself, "It's a good thing we are used to this kind of stuff or we would just think these people were nuts. I guess it's an explanation of the circling wolves; just old friends of the family."

As Grandfather's story came to an end, Dean felt many hands lay upon his shoulders and arms. Nadie stood in front of him. "Now is the time for you to drink up the bowl." She nodded to the older woman who had told him about the Mishipizhi. "This is my sister Kanti. She is going to become your mother.

Dean flicked his eyes toward Sam. Sam returned the look and motioned for Dean to do as told. Dean drank up the milky looking liquid. It tasted faintly of pine and he held down the urge to have it shoot right out his nose. He felt it land in his gut but oddly it did not make him want to puke. Its' power seemed aimed in a different direction. He handed the empty bowl to Nadie.

The women pulled him along a path that ran beside a large quickly moving stream. He could hear the roar of a waterfall ahead. They went up the side of the water and ended at the top of the falls. The stream was wide and quick moving as it plunged off the edge of the rocks and out of sight.

Quickly the women stripped him of his pants and boots. Naked they lay him in the ice cold stream and many hands began to scrape at his skin. No inch of him remained untouched. He didn't really know what they were using but he was glad that the icy water had a numbing effect. One woman held his head above water but they didn't miss a thing. He could hear soft murmurings and quiet laughter. He was pretty sure some things were being said that he would rather not hear.

He could feel hair being scraped off and he wondered what he would have left when they were done. Dignity was already out the window. Even with the effect of the icy water his skin was beginning to tingle.

His head was dropped into the water and he saw Kanti move to the lip of the waterfall and straddle the stream. Suddenly he had a good idea of what they meant by she was going to be his new mother and he began to flail at the hands holding him down. There were too many to fight. Someone grabbed his head by the ears and another woman forced the tube of a water bag between his lips. She squeezed the bag and a different vile concoction shot into his mouth. He definitely wanted to puke this one up but events were moving too fast.

His face was back in the water and they pushed him along the polished rock stream bed. He shot between Kanti's legs and was suddenly airborne.

His first thought was "Well, this is embarrassing." His second one was remembering Sam's warning about hitting the water. He stretched and curved his back, raising his arms above his head in a dive position. From a distance he looked like a great silver fish, diving into the bottom of the pounding waterfall.

When he finally hit the water, his body exploded. Every orifice let go. His gut hurt, his chest hurt. He was steadily puking under the water. It felt like he was puking out of his eyes and ears too. He didn't think you could puke out your ears but it sure as hell felt like it. He was thrashing around in the water, totally disoriented. The only reason he didn't try to breathe water was that he was puking so hard. He thought it was possible he was going to die. He could not find the way up. The sound of the pounding water overwhelmed him.

A hand appeared out of nowhere and grabbed his bicep. He didn't try to fight, he was just grateful that someone knew which way to go. He continued to puke and could not catch his breath. His chest hurt so bad it burned.

Finally his head broke out into the air. He managed to catch a breath and opened his eyes. He was looking at Digger again.

"Hello, little brother. We meet once more." Digger smiled and started pulling him out of the water. He sat Dean on a fur robe at creek side and slipped fur lined slippers like Sam's on his feet. Dean shivered

"Why you again?" Dean asked. "Are you my keeper or something?"

"Kanti is my mother." Digger answered. "That makes you my little brother. And yes, I will be keeping an eye on you from now on. Deal with it. From what I've seen, Sam deals with you."

Dean leaned over and puked again. The substance that was coming up was black, like tar. He scrubbed at an itch on the side of his face and found some more of the same stuff lying just below his ear. He wondered if he had actually had puked out of his ears.

Digger made a noise that sounded like 'Humph." Dean didn't like it.

"Poison still running out of you, I see. You must have done evil in your life. We'll have to put you through the rinse cycle again." Digger waved at someone behind Dean's back.

"What the hell! You aren't throwing me over that again." Dean got up to fight and found he was weak and dizzy. He almost fell over getting up.

"Relax." Digger said. "Not right this minute. We'll give you a few minutes to put yourself back together but you are going to go back through a part of the ritual. The poison has to come out. We'll do it until you run clear." Digger squatted down in front of Dean. "Don't fight it. For one thing, there are too many of us. For another, you are going to feel great when it's over."

Twice more Dean's mouth was filled with the vile tasting emetic and he was shot over the water fall. The second time he was still vomiting the black tar substance and Digger pulled him out and handed him back to his torturers. His chest still burned and he had been unable to find the water's surface. Without Digger's help he would have drown.

The third time, however, there was no longer any pain in his chest. In spite of the pounding of the waterfall he floated easily to the top of the water. Instead of the nasty black tar he burped up clear, shiny bubbles.

If he wasn't already dying from embarrassment due to his naked fish imitation he would have been deeply embarrassed that he could burp such pretty bubbles. It was almost child-like. The bubbles floated up and popped. It was even worse when he noticed that it wasn't Digger pulling him from the water this time, it was Sam.

"Oh, God! What did they do? Sell tickets?" He snarled at Sam.

"Well, I have to say the show was worth the price of admission." Sam laughed back. "Come on, let's get you warmed up. This part of the ritual is finished. Think of it as your baptism. Welcome to your new life. Now we just have to get you named."

"I don't want a new life, Sam. I was perfectly OK with my old one." Dean tried to jerk his arm loose.

"Yeah, right. Cranky and driven and homeless. Scared shitless when you weren't bored to tears. Who wouldn't just love it? Here you can be useful. You have a brand new large family to protect. Mothers and Grandmothers, Grandfathers and cousins, babies and teenagers. You should be in heaven." Sam continued to drag him up on the bank, setting him on the fur robe and bringing his slippers back. "And they want you. No hiding, no lying. I want this. I can see myself being happy for the first time in a long time."

Dean looked around. It was true. He felt great, just like Digger promised he would. He felt lighter, cleaner, emptied of grief and maybe even sorrow and guilt. The other thing he noticed was that he seemed to be able to see better. Everything looked brighter, more defined. Colors were sharp and there seemed to be more of them, or at least more shades. His world had changed.

He lay back on the fur and looked into the sky, resting his head on his folded arms. "Hey, Sam! See if somebody here has my damn pants, will you?"

Sam laughed again and disappeared. Dean tried to remember the last time he had heard his brother laugh so often.

In a little bit he had pants and a leather shirt like Sam's. He decided to keep the slippers instead of his boots for the moment. "What are these things made of, Sam?" They were extremely comfortable and fur lined.

Sam smiled. "Mink, Dean. You're wearing mink slippers. Feels great, don't they?"

They all returned to the campfire. Nixkamich took Dean by the shoulders like he had taken Sam and introduced him to the people in the circle. "Welcome our newest child, Miyo Kisikaw. In our time of need he may become our Okimahkan. Nixkamich passed Dean along to the next person and the whole kissing and hugging thing took place.

Finally Dean was returned to Grandfather after being hugged by more people in the past fifteen minutes than he been in the past fifteen years. He was acutely uncomfortable and grateful when he had noticed Sam stepping back from the circle.

He asked Nixkamich "What does my name mean? And what was that other name you called me?"

"Miyo Kisikaw means "Fine Day" in English. You may change your name a number of times during your life with the tribe, depending on events in your life. The other name was Okimahkan and it is not a name, it is a title. It means "War Chief".

Dean stared into Grandfather's eyes. He had no idea how to respond to that. He knew though, that for the first time in a long time he was not being coerced or threatened. This path was one open to him. He was not doomed to follow it. Unlike so many other pathways in his life, he was not being ordered to do something; he was being offered the opportunity to decide for himself if he wanted to accept. It was not pre-ordained; he had not been bred for it; It was something to consider off in the future.

He was happy with that.


	11. Chapter 11 - Lost Souls

The Winchesters and other characters from Supernatural belong to Kripke Enterprises Inc. and the CW, not me. If they were mine clothing would be optional and preferably minimal.

**Sons of the Morning**

Chapter 11

**A/N: This is a complete replacement of my original Chapter 11 which got a lot of attention from my constant readers, and not in a good way. In that version there was mention of an arranged marriage for Sam and no one liked the idea. Always trying to give you what you want, here is a replacement.**

**May-May-Quay-Shi, Lost Souls**

_Once I rose above the noise and confusion_

_Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion_

_I was soaring ever higher, but I flew too high_

_Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man_

_Though my mind could think I still was a mad man_

_I hear the voices when I'm dreamin', I can hear them say_

_Carry on, my wayward son_

_For there'll be peace when you are done_

_Lay your weary head to rest_

_Don't you cry no more_

_Masquerading as a man with a reason_

_My charade is the event of the season_

_And if I claim to be a wise man, it surely means that I don't know_

_On a stormy sea of moving emotion_

_Tossed about I'm like a ship on the ocean_

_I set a course for winds of fortune, but I hear the voices say_

_Carry on, my wayward son_

_For there'll be peace when you are done_

_Lay your weary head to rest_

_Don't you cry no more_

_Carry on, you will always remember_

_Carry on, nothing equals the splendor_

_Now your life's no longer empty_

_Surely heaven waits for you_

Recorded by Kansas, written by Kerry Livgren for the 1976 album Leftoverture

Dean thought back to his conversation with Sam right after Sam had pulled him from the water.

XXXXXX

Sam pulled Dean to his feet. "Í can walk by myself, Sam." Dean shook his brother's hands from his arms, even though, after his 'baptism' by waterfall he could have used something to lean on.

"Dean, knock off the tough guy act. You're lucky they aren't carrying you back to camp in a sling." Sam lead the way down stream, pushing aside branches in Dean's path and holding his hand out as if he would catch Dean if he were to stumble.

"I'm fine," the famous Winchester standard response to offers of help, even if their guts were dragging on the ground behind them. "I'm fine. Leave me alone."

"I said knock it off, Dean,'" Sam answered back. "Half the people here can tell what you're feeling. It seems that a number of the people here are either empaths or very skilled at reading strangers. I felt connected with Nixkamich as soon as we met."

"Sam, what are you babbling about? What is with you? I'm used to all your emo crap and your weird spirit walks but I feel like you are trusting these people way too fast. We know pretty much nothing about them. Slow down a little. Let's take a closer look at things. " Dean rubbed at the back of his neck, a 'Dean' signal that he was disturbed. "Just how long was I unconscious back on that rock? You seem to have picked up a lot of stuff that I don't understand."

"It was only maybe a couple of hours." Sam answered. "It only took two trips over the waterfall for me. I've spent a lot of the time talking to Grandfather and I already knew a bit about the cultural background of the Plains Cree so I had a head start to begin with. I didn't need some stuff explained."

"Fine, so you're comfortable with them. You 'feel' things. I don't." Dean went on, knowing that what he was feeling was that he was being imposed on by his brother. "I need a lot more before I'm willing to throw everything I know out the window and start living in the woods with a bunch of strangers. Besides, how come I can't 'feel' stuff like you?"

"I have an idea about that," Sam answered. "You are a Warrior Hunter type of person. Being able to feel the fear of things you are about to kill could be a crippling problem for you. I'm not saying you couldn't do it but I think you need to maintain a higher level of self-control. You can't be lead around by your emotions."

Dean looked around and back at the group of people trailing after them.

He saw Digger and Nixkamich and Kanti, his supposed mother, and Nadie, the woman that he, unfortunately, thought of as the one who had poisoned him. Then he cast an eye over the rest of 'his' women and noticed a young woman who had not been with them during the ceremony. She was very much younger than anyone else and fairly tall. Slim, dark haired and delicate, she stood out like a fawn in a herd of deer. Dean was immediately attracted.

Suddenly he was smacked on the back of his head. Turning around, he eyed his brother. "Dude, did you just hit me in the head?"

Sam's lips were compressed in a thin line and he looked pissed. "Get your mind off her, Dean. She's not for you and she definitely is not your type."

"Whoa, little brother, you sure you're only a couple of hours ahead of me? You never worked that fast before; you got your eye on her already?" Dean smirked.

Sam looked even more offended. "You know, you can be a class one asshole. Her name is Ayamis. You can call her that, if you ever get to talk to her, which you won't if I have anything to say about it. She is not to become one of your targets."

Dean raised his hands, "O.K., I get it. Hands off."

"Eyes off, too," Sam huffed. "Don't even think about it."

Sam turned and continued downstream. Dean could see the tension in his shoulders. He cast a sneaky look back at Ayamis to find her looking at the ground. He wondered just how this had happened. His brother didn't cruise and generally kept himself to himself. What had this girl done to Sammy?

XXXXXX

Now standing around the campfire with his bright, shiny new name Dean looked for Ayamis. He was not surprised to see her standing behind Sam as Sam was deep in a discussion with Nixkamich and an older man and woman that Dean did not recognize. The group separated with Nixkamich and Sam moving towards him and the other three people moving deeper into the camp.

Someone had handed Dean a plate with meat and what looked like wild rice. There were also some strange vegetables that he couldn't identify but he was sure would send Sam off into vegetable geekisms. One of the consequences of having puked up just about everything he owned, including a few spare parts, was that he was starving. He even ate the mystery vegetables. He gave some thought to eating the plate.

"Hey, Sam, "Dean greeted him. "We got to get back to the car. It's going to be dark soon and who knows what's going to happen to her."

"Don't worry Dean," Nixkamich said. "We sent someone for your car hours ago. I'd be real surprised if it isn't on the other side of the camp by now."

"You did what!" Dean yelped. "Who did you send? How did you get it up here? If there's a mark on that car….better not have screwed up the suspension!"

He started to turn red in the face. "Take it easy, Dean." Sam grabbed his arm and started rubbing his back. "It's OK. We'll go look at her right now. Come, on. You're going to hyperventilate. Take a deep breath."

Sam worked on calming Dean down. Digger appeared out of nowhere. "What's up with him?" he asked Sam.

"Just having a breakdown over the Impala." Sam told him.

"Hey, Dean, it's OK. She's fine." Digger took over from Sam "She's even got company. She's parked right next to my baby blue 1965 Mustang."

Dean looked up. "You've got a '65 pony?" He straightened and got his breath back. "Where are they? How did they get up here?"

"65 pony with Hi-Po; 271 horse power high performance 289 engine, four barrel carburetor and a solid-lifter valve train. Top of the line." Digger's face glowed with pride.

"My cousin Tony, now your cousin too, went and got the Impala. I trust him to drive the Mustang. You can trust him with the Impala. Didn't want her to sit out in that parking lot all night either. There's a back road up here. We're not savages, Dean. We get out and we appreciate nice things too. Come on, I'll take you to the cars. Tony wants to talk to you too. He's got a 67 Mustang reclamation job on his hands. You know anything about them?"

Dean and Digger went off, evidently to car heaven.

"Dean!" Sam called. Dean turned and looked at him but didn't stop walking. "Grandfather's got a job for us. We'll meet you at Digger's cabin after you see the car."

Dean waved and nodded his head. Nothing was getting in the way of him getting to the Impala.

It was an hour or so later and the sun was setting when Dean and Digger showed up at Digger's cabin. Sam and Grandfather were already in side, making themselves comfortable. Dean liked the look of the place. It was a solid piece of work; a well-chinked log cabin with a stone chimney. It looked cozy and warm and completely not what Dean was expecting. Inside someone had started a fire against the evening chill.

"Sam, you got to go see where the Impala is. It's hard to see because it blends into the hillside but it's a complete garage inside. Digger's car is awesome. There is a road back there too. It's not a bad as I thought it would be," Dean went on and Sam thought he actually sounded excited.

"Yes, I want to go see it, Dean, but we have a problem that we have to solve for Nixkamich first. I'll let him tell you about it."

"We have had something wrong down at the lake for some time." Nixkamich started slowly. "We have a type of ghost monster that is called May-May-Quay-Shi " He took a stick and poked at the fire. Digger sat quietly to the side.

"These are lost souls that can't seem to pass on to the next life. They don't have noses, for some reason and hair covers their faces. They are found in caves in the cliffs beside the lake. There are some by every lake but the ones that are in our lake at the bottom of the road are becoming a dangerous nuisance."

"Sam tells me that this is exactly the type of thing that you and he hunt and destroy." Nixkamich scratched the back of his head. "I have to say it seems a strange life style to me, but then we most likely seem as strange to you. "

Digger snorted softly in the background. Nixkamich shot him a look "You want to take over, Digger?"

"You know my feelings about this, Grandfather. These are not traditional monsters like the Windigos and the Ice Bears. These creatures only started appearing when the missionaries started coming north. Now all of the people are confusing Gitche Manitou with the ideas of these missionaries," Digger folded his arms and looked stubbornly at Nixkamich.

"I understand your feelings, Digger, but it doesn't help get rid of these creatures. Sam and Dean have made a life's work out of putting such things down. We should let them try since nothing we have done has been effective."

Sam cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt."

"Not necessary, Sam. I am finished." Nixkamich waved at Sam to go on.

"Well, the first step in a project like this is the research. Anything you can tell us about how these things were created or why they are here and what you may have done to try and make them leave adds to our knowledge and speeds up the process."

Nixkamich smiled. "Is this how you two divide the work? You do the study and Dean is what? The muscle?"

Sam laughed "You got it. Although Dean comes up with good ideas especially about how to destroy these things. He has a lot of experience and is older than me. He has been at it all his life. Let's go sit down and tell me what you know."

They moved off to the kitchen table. Sam took the laptop with him. Dean was left with Digger.

"What's your problem with this stuff, Digger?" Dean asked.

"I just resent how these things were created." Digger growled. "A hundred and fifty years ago there were no such things. Then the Catholics and other Christians came and mixed their religion with our beliefs. I blame them for these things. If people didn't die with these alien thoughts in their heads this wouldn't happen."

"OK," Dean replied. "Just what do I need to do about this?"

"I think I heard Sam say something about a 'salt and burn'. If you can find the bones this might be an effective ritual. It just too bad that some of these creatures used to be people's relatives. Now they are frightening the livestock and pushing people into the lake and off of the cliff sides. They have to be stopped." Digger turned and started pulling blankets out of the wooden chest that was being used as a table in front of the couch.

"You and Sam are staying with me tonight. Better pick your spot. One can go on the couch and there is a spare bed in the back room." He put the blankets on the couch. "I'm going to turn in. I have an early morning hunt to attend to. A hunt for game, not your ghost kind of hunt. Good night." He left for the back of the cabin.

After a while Nixkamich left and Sam came to Dean.

"What ya' got, Sam?" Dean asked.

"Well, first of all, here's a beer." Sam handed him a cold brown bottle. "And here' some trail mix with M&M's in it. I know it's not perfect, but live with it."

Sam settled into Digger's arm chair. "Well, this shouldn't be too tough. Looks like standard salt and burn's for the most part. Nixkamich says a lot of these people either went insane and wandered off to the caves to die or they died alone with no one to mourn them. Either way, we should be able to find bones. Some of the older haunts I'll have to try to take care of if we don't find bones. We will just have to take it case by case."

"How many of these things are there, Sam?" Dean asked while stuffing trail mix in his mouth.

"He was a little vague on that. I got the feeling that there are some that are being very aggressive that he wants dealt with and he hopes the rest might just fade away on their own. We'll just have to go watch by the lake tomorrow night and make a plan. By the way, he wants us to take Digger and a couple of other guys with us to train so they can handle this stuff when we aren't here."

Dean was pleased to hear his brother talk about them getting away from the camp off and on. He had been concerned that Sam might want to settle in and roost. He now felt he could relax and enjoy himself as long as the possibility of freedom to come and go was assured.

"Dean," Sam said, "There is a campfire going outside. Nixkamich is going to be telling more stories about this place and these people. You want to walk with me? I'm going over to listen. It's better than the TV. Reception is crap up here. I think you can probably still get the Ed Sullivan show."

Dean had already fiddled around with the antique TV and knew it sucked so the idea of outdoor entertainment had its appeal. They wrapped up in Diggers' blankets and took off.

Outside the temperature had fallen with the setting of the Sun. The night sky was black velvet with carelessly scattered diamonds. Orion's belt rode low on the Southern horizon. The Seven Sisters, the Pleiades cluster, glittered in Taurus just ahead of the eye of the bull, the red giant Aldebaran. The wind tossed the stars around. The trees leaned and moved with the air.

Huddled even closer in the blanket Dean saw a huge black form cross the sky above the pines, blanking out the stars as it passed. The long drawn out hoo-hoo-hoo of an owl followed.

"Damn, did you see that one, Sam?" Dean glanced at his brother.

"Couldn't miss it. About the size of small passenger plane, wasn't it?" Sam said. "It is quite possible to get a four foot wing span on a Great Horned Owl. They'll take anything they can carry, rats and even house cats if they are small enough."

They could see the glow of the campfire off beyond the trees. Soft gusts of laughter enticed them.

The closer they got the better they could discern Nixkamich's voice. The smell of pine logs burning added a perfume to the clear night air. The mountains' silence kept the modern world at bay. It could have been a thousand years ago. No lights polluted the sky. There was no murmur of far off traffic.

They settled into open spaces in the circle. Nixkamich nodded at them "You just missed the story of the Windigo Woman. I think that maybe you two know a little about that already so you can catch it next time. I was just about to tell everyone the story of Ishi, The Last of His Kind."

"There were many reasons that our people began to retreat into these mountains. The destruction of the Yana and the sorrowful tale of Ishi only confirmed that our reasons were good."

"In around 1845 there were maybe 3,000 Yana and Yahi people in Northern California. The California gold rush brought in the miners and the settlers. Gold mining damaged the water supplies, killed the fish and drove the deer away. The settlers also brought new diseases like smallpox and measles. The Northern Yana became extinct. Central and Southern populations dropped drastically."

"The remaining population, searching for food, came in conflict with the settlers. Bounties were placed on the Yahi, 50 cents per scalp, five dollars per head; man, woman or child. It didn't matter. In 1865 seventeen "Indian Hunters" surrounded a Yahi encampment and executed 50 Yahi as they slept. Only about 30 Yahi survived the attack. Cattlemen then killed about half of those survivors. The last of the Yahi went into hiding for the next 40 years."

"Bounties and massacres were common in those days. Indians were not people; they were savages ad deserved only to die. They were of less value than the Buffalo."

In 1911 a "wild" Indian was captured near Oroville, California. He was searching for meat after a wild fire. He was later called Ishi, which means "man" in the Yana language. He was the last of his kind. After being held in the Oroville jail for his own protection, he was turned over to anthropologists at the University of California, Berkley where they learned the Yahi language and customs from him."

"The anthropologist Alfred Kroeber named him Ishi because the Yahi considered it rude to ask someone their name. Later, when they were able to communicate, Kroeber did ask Ishi for his name but Ishi replied; "I have no name. There were no people to name me."

"He lived the last five years of his life in a university building in San Francisco before dying of tuberculosis."

"His tribe was starved, hunted and murdered to extinction. He was truly the Last of His Kind."

"As a final insult, after his death his body was cremated but his brain was preserved and put in a deer skin wrapped Pueblo Indian pottery jar and sent to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington.

Under the American Indian Act of 1989 it was determined that there were living descendants of the Yana people of Northern California. Ishi's brain and his cremated remains were sent to them. Their disposition is private."

There was silence at the end of Nexkamich's story. After a moment every one rose and dusted themselves off and dispersed.


	12. Chapter 12 - Salt n' Burn 101

The Winchesters and other characters from Supernatural belong to Kripke Enterprises Inc. and the CW, not me. I promise not to hurt them and I'll put them back when I'm done.

**A/N: I hope that most of you got the message that Chapter 11 was partially rewritten. Sam's arranged marriage plot point is, if not abandoned, at least moved further along in the story. Please re-read Chapter 11 if you haven't already. Sorry for the trouble. It was entirely my fault.**

**Sons of the Morning**

Chapter 12

**Salt n' Burn 101**

_The landscapes of the Far North are made up of people's desires and aspirations which are as much a part of the land as the wind, solitary animals and the bright fields of stone and tundra._

_The physical landscape is baffling in its ability to transcend whatever we would make of it. It is as subtle in its expression as turns of the mind and larger than our grasp; and yet it is still knowable. The mind, full of curiosity and analysis, disassembles a landscape and then reassembles the pieces – a nod of a flower, the color of the night sky, the murmur of an animal—trying to fathom its geography. At the same time the mind is trying to find its place within the land, to discover a way to dispel its own sense of estrangement_

_From the preface to Artic Dreams by Barry Lopez._

Early morning, Dean unwound himself from his blanket and stretched. His arms curled up; his hands made fists. He stretched his legs and promptly crashed into the arm of a couch. Leaning up he surveyed his surroundings, the dusty smell of a dead fire in his nose. "Oh, yeah," he thought. "Digger's cabin." Last night came back to him; the walk through the dark camp, the glow of a campfire through the trees and the murmur of voices in the wind.

Now that he was awake he also remembered that they had a hunt to attend to. He got up to search for running water. He definitely wanted a shower. There was the smell of coffee on the air. Digger must have already got up and left on his game hunt. Dean followed his nose to the coffee pot. The kitchen was a small affair situated in an alcove. Maybe it was a lean-to attached to the side of the house. He didn't care. It had the important stuff, like the coffee pot.

After his shower he went looking for Sam. His brother was in the back room, his feet hanging off the end of a normal size bed. "Wake up, Sam." Dean smacked the bottom of an unprotected foot and Sam jerked awake.

"Jackass," Sam muttered. "What do you want?"

"Come on. The sun's up and evidently up here that means get your ass out of bed. You picked the place. I'm just following the rules. There's coffee." Dean smiled sweetly at his brother. "Move it, Sasquatch. We have to go check out that lake. Digger's already gone. Let's see if we can find our posse."

Dean wandered out on to the front porch, leaving Sam to get himself together. He grabbed his trusty blanket in passing. It was still pretty nippy outside. He sat down, wrapped up and looked out over the mountains while drinking his second cup of coffee. In the daylight it was obvious that they were pretty far up the side of a good size mountain and the view went on forever. The air was crystal clear. He could see the predatory birds out circling, looking for breakfast. Other than the sounds of movement in other cabins near by the world was still. He felt at peace, soothed by morning sun on his face.

After a while Sam came out and busted up his peace and quiet.

"Do you know where this lake is? "Sam asked.

"No, but let's go find your friend Nixkamich." Dean stood and shook out his blanket.

"No need for that," said another voice. Digger came around the side of the cabin. "I'm back. We'll get the other guys and drive down to the lake."

Digger was a good looking guy. A little taller than Dean and well built; he was dressed in the standard blue jeans, blue work shirt and denim jacket of the Western male. He seemed to be maybe 40 years old. A tough, intelligent man, he looked capable and confident. He looked at Dean. "Aren't you cute? Go on, put your blankie back. We'll go eat and get everyone else then go scout out the lake. "

At the campfire they found fry bread, beans, shredded venison and a meat stew. It looked like a standard southwestern Navajo breakfast. Dean wondered how it had come so far north. Then he spotted the tortillas warming in a pile near the fire and he didn't care how it came to be, he just dived in.

Digger approached Dean. "How many guys do you think we're going to need? There's a lot of interest in our little party."

Dean gave it some thought. "If you can get three more fairly athletic guys together that would give us three teams of two each. As long as you feel comfortable leading one team we should be covered for now. I don't know how many of these ghost monsters there are, what do you call them? May-May-Quay-Shi? I think we're just going to call them' hairy ghosts'. That work for you?"

"Sounds like a plan," Digger answered "We'll take the F-150 down. Three of us can fit in the cab; everyone else can ride in the back." He left and headed for a group of young men at the far side of the fire.

In a few minutes a group split off and Digger waved Sam and Dean over. As the group of now six men headed off to the car shed Digger introduced their new hunting buddies. "This is Nathan", a thin twenty-something with grey eyes," and Prentiss", an older, somber looking man, the shortest of the group, "and Evan", a smiling, friendly looking guy dressed in leathers. Everyone shook hands while the group was still in motion.

Evan laughed. "I gather we are going to be the Indian version of Ghostbusters? What have you got us into here, Digger?"

"We are going to get that lake cleaned out. The May-May-Quay-Shi have been causing trouble lately and we are going to sort them out. Sam and Dean here are experts, if you can believe it, in ghost and monster clean ups and they are going to show us how to get rid of these sad souls once and for all."

They approached a dark brown Ford truck parked on the side of the road and everyone climbed in. With a rattle and a roar they took off down the dirt road, the three guys in the back laughing and holding on as well as they could.

It was like driving through a cathedral of trees. The road had been cut through under the branches and the pine boughs arched overhead. Dean bet himself that this road was invisible from above. Animals skittered out of the way. Deer and squirrels and Dean thought he saw some kind of big cat. In the trees more squirrels, members of the weasel family like pine martins and birds flittered and flashed.

Soon enough they dropped down the side of the mountain and parked beside a crystal blue lake. Getting out of the truck, they shattered the silence. Birds took off in a flutter of wings. Something large moved through the underbrush, away from them. Tree squirrels chattered their annoyance and rustled off through the branches.

Dean stood at the shore of the lake, wind driven ripples tossing soft water drops at him. The lake was long and narrow and nestled up against some porous looking cliffs on the opposite side. He could see shallow caves speckling the face of the cliff.

"Is that where your ghost monsters hang out?" He asked Digger, waving his hand at the caves.

"Unfortunately, yes." Digger responded. "How do you think we should go about this?"

"Well, looking at the layout I think we need to do some prep work. Hey, Sam."

Sam looked up from the weapons duffle. He had been sorting out shotguns and salt filled cartridges. Nathan, Evan and Prentiss were already armed and checking out the guns Sam had passed out.

"What do you want, Dean? Do you think that Holy Water is going to do any good? Should I pass it out too?"

"Wouldn't hurt. Lots of Christianity mixed in with the Native beliefs. Makes Digger mad. Come on over. I need to brainstorm with you."

Sam snickered. "More like a spring shower than a storm."

"Shut up." Dean bounced back. "Smart-ass. Ok, what do you think? I think we all start crawling around those cliffs over there, looking for bones."

Dean stopped. "Anyone here have problems handling bones? I know the Navajos do. What about you guys?"

Digger looked up at his friends. "No religious problems that I know of. Any problems for any of you?" His three friends all indicated no, either shaking their heads or just replying "Nope."

"All ready to go, Dean."

Dean went on. "Well I see it as a scavenger hunt. All six of us go in these caves and look for human bones. If you find any then drag them out to the front where we can find them at night. I don't want to light them up in the day time. "

"I agree," said Digger. "You make smoke in the day time and we'll have forest service helicopters down our necks in the blink of an eye. The fire watch out here is serious."

"Then that's what we'll do. Even though it's daylight, we do this in teams of two. Nobody does anything by themselves. It's not safe. It will be more dangerous at night when these things should be more active and I guarantee when you salt and burn the bones you are going to get pissed off visitors. Two guys, working together; one on the gun, one on the fire. We try to keep everyone safe and not break our necks climbing around the cliffs either."

They all start off around the lake. After a while they were all over the cliff face, calling to each other as they found bones. They soon figured out that they needed markers of some type and Digger went back to the truck. He came back with handfuls of shop rags and they tied a rag to mark each bone pile. After a couple of hours they climbed back down to where they parked the truck and surveyed their work. The cliff was now marked with fluttering blue and red rags.

"Looks good to me." Dean said. "Digger, while I was crawling around that cliff it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to rope in a couple of more guys to actively watch our backs. If someone falls or gets hurt maybe you can find some guys to act as medics and rescuers. I want the remaining teams to be able to keep going. Once we start this thing it's going to be like sticking your hand in a wasps nest. We're going to want to finish it."

They all loaded back in the truck and drove up the mountain. In the truck cab Dean, Sam and Digger completed their planning. Dean realized that with eight or ten total guys this was possibly the largest hunt he had ever organized, with regard to active hunters. They had twelve bone piles to burn; four for each team. They agreed to tell Evan, Nathan and Prentiss to pick their own back up and to tell the new people how to take over the hunt if one of the original team members was hurt.

"What about the ghosts that don't have bones?" Digger asked.

"That what we have Sammy for." Dean nudged his brother. "Sammy can talk them to death."

"Ha, ha," responded Sam. "It's not quite like that."

"Well, how else would you explain it, Gigantor?"

Sam turned in a huff and stared out the window. Sometimes Dean's sense of humor just escaped him. He had no good response.

At the top of the mountain everyone bailed out of the truck and went on their separate errands. Dean went back to the campfire and watched his brother wander off to where a group of women were making tortillas.

Dean noticed that Ayamis was one of the women and saw Sam squat down beside her. They started talking and it looked to Dean like Ayamis was trying to get Sam to make a tortilla. She handed him some dough and made patting motions. Sam was laughing. The dough almost disappeared in his huge hands.

Dean's cell phone went off. Surprised he could even get a signal, Dean answered the call. "Hello?"

"Dean, it's Paul again, from the campground in West Virginia."

"Oh, yeah. Hi, Paul. What's up?"

"Are you and Sam somewhere in Canada at a hotel called the Banff Springs Hotel?" Paul asked.

"Yes, we are. How did you know?"

"Because I heard those guys I told you about before talking about it. They must think I'm part of the furniture around here because they sure shoot off their mouths here in the store"

"Well, Paul," Dean told him. "If they are the people I think they are they aren't known for their brains, only their attitudes."

"The way they were talking this afternoon and the stuff for the road they bought, makes me think you might be seeing them in three or four days."

"Thanks again Paul. We really appreciate the heads up. These guys are bad news and I'm real grateful for the warning. Bye."

Dean closed the phone and contemplated the Cantrells. He knew what he would like to do to them but there was that pesky Hunter's rule about not killing humans. Once again he wondered if the Cantrells strictly qualified as human. He figured he'd talk it over with Sam later. Right now he was watching a relaxed Sam smiling and laughing and patting his tortilla flat for Ayamis' approval.

He also tried to think of a good payback for a snotty hotel clerk named Cubby. Dean was willing to bet Cubby had run his credit card and got their information out on the system where it could be hacked.

They all ate dinner just before sunset and when twilight set in got back in the truck for the trek down to the lake. They now numbered nine. Evidently everybody brought a brother along for the party. The truck bed was full of siblings.

It was full on dark when they got to the bottom of the hill but the cliff face glowed pale in the moonlight. As they started arming themselves and getting ready to hike around the lake Dean noticed movement around the mouths of the caves. He motioned for everyone to be silent. They all watched as dark, nasty forms materialized and started creeping head first down the cliffs, like fat giant spiders. It was one of the creepier things Dean had ever seen in a life time of creepy things.

"OK men; let's go get these things gone." Dean started out for the other side of the lake

The closer they got the more the May-May-Quay-Shi noticed them. The creatures lifted their heads like they were scenting the hunters. Dean remembered Nixkamich saying that they had no noses and their faces were covered in hair. He never met anything he had wanted gone more.

They broke into teams and climbed to their targeted caves. Dean heard the whoosh of fire and one of the creatures on the cliff face screamed and burst into flames. That got the attention of the rest of them and just as they had crept down the cliff now they were turning and climbing back up.

Dean sounded the alarm. "They are coming back up, be ready." He saw flames reflected on the ceiling of a cave and another creepy crawly lit up. Now there was also the sound of shot guns being fired. This was turning into a supernatural pitched battle.

He hit his first cave. Nathan was his gun man. Dean had the salt and gasoline. He went as fast as he could but heard Nathan rack the shot gun. The noise of the gun firing thundered in the cave.

"Light the damn thing up Dean." Nathan screamed. Another shot pounded his ear drums. The flames arced toward the roof and the scream of the ghost replaced the sound of the gun.

After about an hour of gunshots and flames and screams they climbed back down to the lake and returned to the truck. No one had been hurt. Evan had caught his pants leg on fire but that seemed to be the extent of the damage. All the brothers greeted each other and Dean realized that he had just created a cadre of seasoned hunters.

He stood next to Sam. "What do you think, Sam?"

"There are still more of them out there but they seem old and weak. Maybe Nixkamich is right and they fade as they age. I could try to talk them gone but why don't we just check tomorrow night and see what I find." Sam seemed meditative.

"Sounds like a plan." Dean answered. "Let's go up the mountain and get some sleep. We'll deal with tomorrow when tomorrow gets here. Something you should think about though. Remember that fossil bed that started all this? Do you still want to go there?"


	13. Chapter 13 - Surprised by Moonlight

All Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises Inc. and the CW, not me. Use of the characters is not for money but for my own amusement.

**Sons of the Morning**

Chapter 13

**Surprised by Moonlight**

_The fountains mingle with the river_

_And the rivers with the ocean,_

_The winds of Heaven mix for ever_

_With a sweet emotion;_

_Nothing in the world is single_

_All things by a law divine_

_In one spirit meet and mingle-_

_Why not I with thine?_

_See the mountains kiss high Heaven_

_And the waves clasp one another;_

_No sister flower would be forgiven_

_If it disdained its brother;_

_And the sunlight clasps the earth,_

_And the moonbeams kiss the sea –_

_What are all these kissings worth_

_If thou kiss not me?_

Love's Philosophy by Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1792-1822

**A/N This chapter contains a sex scene. Be aware. I want to thank Winter Grey for her help and encouragement. This chapter might not have been written without her.**

After the May-May-Quay-Shi hunt was over and they returned up the mountain, Dean and Sam stood at the campfire and talked about the next day's plans.

"I think we should go back down there tomorrow night, Dean," Sam said seriously. "Those spirits were damned ugly and I want to make sure we cleaned them up. If you would prefer I can do it from up here and check by walking among them."

"Do you feel safe doing that?" Dean asked, just as seriously.

"I think so. As long as I have you to pull me out if things go bad I'm comfortable. Can you ask Digger if we can use the cabin? I would rather do it out of sight. I don't want to become a show. Besides, I'll never measure up to your waterfall act."

Dean smacked his brother on the arm. "Shut up about that. I never want to hear about it again. Damned people threw me naked over a frigging waterfall. It was all your fault, I blame you."

"Me!" squawked Sam. "Why blame me?"

"You got me up here with your spirit wolf hunt. Of course I blame you."

The brothers continued to snipe at each other. There was a break and Sam saw Ayamis walk past the fire.

"That reminds me." Sam broke off. "I'm going over to Ayamis' cabin to talk to her father."

"Really?" Dean wiggled an eyebrow. "You're going to go talk to her father. You sure you got that right?"

"Yes, Dean." Sam patiently explained. "Her dad is a botanist. He is doing a study on the effects of climate change on the arctic air mass and the consequent damage to the conifers of the boreal forest. It sounds interesting. I told him I would come over and look at his work."

"Wonderful. You find a pretty girl and manage to track her down and turn her into a Geek Princess. Only you. Is there like a Geek mating call that only your kind can hear?" Dean snorted at his own wit.

Sam walked away, rolling his eyes. "Just shut up, Dean. Don't wait up. Her dad said I could stay there if it got late."

"Right," Dean muttered to himself. "And the big attraction is daddy's data. I sure would have other data I would be looking up."

Dean spent another couple of minutes warming his back side at the campfire and then decided to go turn in. All this fresh air was getting to him. A nice warm bed sounded enticing, even if it turned out to be a nice warm couch.

As he walked through the trees in the direction of Digger's cabin, two women approached him. He eyed them since they were both on the verge of being beautiful. A little too tall, a little older than him and a little too self-assured to fully slot into his ideal of beauty, they were definitely attractive.

One let her sable hair hang down over her shoulders. It swung as she walked and she lifted a long fingered hand to sweep it back from her face. The other had piled her hair high on her head, exposing a long creamy neck. Swan neck turned and looked him straight in the eyes. Her teeth showed and tugged on her lower lip, a meditative nibble.

Dean felt his interest pick up. A flush climbed up his neck and he felt her eyes trace the rising blush. He stopped moving and she stopped in front of him. "Hello, Miyo Kisikow." she said. "I am Sokanon.

He had taken his eyes off the other woman and was surprised to feel her arms encircle his waist.

"That is my sister, Wapun." Sokanon smiled as Wapun raised her hands up to his shoulders, delicately restraining his arms. It wasn't a strong hold, more of a suggestion and a promise. The pose made of him an offering to Sokanon's eyes.

He felt Wapun's breath on the side of his face and turned his head to look at her. "No", she murmured and she used those long fingers to push his head away. A tongue traced up the side of his neck and circled his ear. A warm breath followed by that talented tongue stimulated his earlobe. Those sensations were followed by a quick nip with her teeth. A tingle shot straight down his spine and the skin on his back stood up and saluted. He moaned and closed his eyes.

Wapun used the long fingers of the other hand to now push his face over to her. His head tilted back and she claimed his lips. That gifted tongue worked his mouth, licking and pushing. She traced the delicate skin on the inside of his lips and then went looking for his tongue. He gave into the rush.

She tighten her grip and his shoulders slipped back, arcing his chest. She slipped a knee between his thighs. The offering to her sister was now not just visual but physical. He felt like his legs would give out There was a quiver running up the soft skin of his molested thighs, like finger nails ghosting the flesh.

Then the lady in front got into the act. He felt his button up being undone. Jacket and over shirt were pushed over his shoulders. Wapun let the garments drop to the bend of his elbows and then she went back to restraining his shoulders. Sokanon ran her hands up under his T-shirt and pushed it up, exposing his chest.

Light, cool fingers outlined his abs and wandered over his rib cage, exploring every inch of skin. The hand slid to the small of his back, traveled under his thick leather belt and worked the swell of his ass. Fingers grasped a nipple, rolling it firmly, eliciting a gasp of pleasure from Dean as it pebbled and peaked.

She bent her head down and took the other nipple in her mouth, rolled it with her tongue then pulled off, exposing it to the night air. He felt the nipple tighten as the cool air rapidly dried the dampness. Then there were lips that sucked, teeth that nipped. Between the tongue in his mouth and the lips on his nipple he felt like his legs were going to buckle. The ground was looking awfully good.

Wapun let go of his shoulders and used his shirt and jacket to hold his arms behind him. She put a hand in the middle of his back and pushed. Sokanon moved her hand from his ass to his belt buckle and started pulling him along the path by his pants while Wapun pushed. He had been captured by moonlight and was looking forward to being laid on the sacrificial alter.

They brought him to another cabin like Diggers, lead him up on the porch and pushed him through the front door. Sokanon jerked off the jacket and shirt that bound their captive's arms. Grasping both wrists in her hands she pinned Dean against the wall and held him there not allowing him to touch her. Her mouth took possession of his lips while Wapun vanished. She rubbed her thigh against his dick. He honestly was beginning to tremble. It was exquisite torture.

He saw Wapun outlined by the glow from the fireplace. She was dropping heavy furs on the floor. "Sokanon," she whispered. "It's ready, bring him over."

Sokanon dropped his hands and stripped off his T-shirt. Leading him across the room she paused in front of the fireplace to unbuckle his belt, lower the zipper and strip him of his pants and underwear. He was naked and felt captured, handled, owned. Another shiver tingled down his back.

Sokanon helped him to lie down on the furs. She ran her hands up over his thighs, his hipbones and on up his chest. Every touch was strangely smooth and he remembered that the women at the waterfall had scraped all hair from his body. Sokanon's fingers investigated the smooth skin where his pubic hairs used to be, rubbing the softness and around the base of his dick. He gave an involuntary flinch.

While he was distracted by the intimate exploration of his crotch, Wapun trapped his hands and tied his wrists together with a leather strap. She then pulled his arms above his head. He could feel he was being tied to something. He gave a light tug and nothing moved. He was caught and restrained. His body had been seized for pleasure.

By the firelight he could tell that the women were removing their clothes. Flames flickered and highlighted naked breasts and full plump ass cheeks. Long thighs moved over him, holding him down. Sokanon sat on his hips. She was rubbing some kind of shiny oil all over his body. She wiped some oil on her and her sister' breasts and the skin glowed in the firelight. She grabbed his dick and started pumping it. Her hand slid smoothly, oiling the skin.

Wapun reclaimed his upper body. Oily fingers attacked his nipples. Her lips fastened themselves to a pulse point on his neck and sucked. He knew he would be marked in the morning but there was so much sensation arcing his nerves that he couldn't concentrate on any one thing.

Below Sokanon was continuing to investigate his crotch. She kept one hand entertained with his dick but the other one went wandering further afield. He felt it slide between his legs and his perineum was rubbed and oiled. The hand went further and the fingers separated the cheeks of his ass, searching out his asshole. One long finger went exploring where no other woman's fingers had gone before. He thought of a fragment of poetry he had heard long ago "license my roving hands to go before, between and behind." He now had firsthand knowledge of the meaning of that piece of poetry.

As he flinched and whimpered, they did as they liked with him. He decided his input was not required and settled into the furs, waiting to be used as they liked. It was the very first time he had ever been put in a submissive position and he was actually enjoying it. He was so hard it ached.

Sokanon stopped exploring and got down to business. She rose up on her knees and sank down on his dick. He arched up into the feeling. She started riding him hard. She was a very athletic woman. He watched as she reached for her sister. They melded together above his body and kissed. Sokanon continued her ride as Wapun stroked her sisters' breasts. Dean was so turned on he couldn't control himself. He came. His world turned white. He thought he was screaming. It was possible that he passed out.

Some period of time passed. Dean came to still restrained. The firelight was the only illumination. He figured not all that much time had gone by. The women were lying on either side of him, quietly playing with his body. Fingers stroked his belly and his hip bones. Someone had their tongue in his ear again and shivers ran down his neck to be lost in his shoulders. He moaned. "Could I have something to drink?"

He realized that those were the first words he had spoken since before he met the women in the pines.

Someone put a glass of water to his lips. He eagerly swallowed it down then let his head fall back on the furs. Once again he was being worked on by experts. The delicate hands went for his over sensitive nipples and started teasing them up again.

A hand grabbed his dick and started stroking it back to life. He realized that he had two women to satisfy so his work was not done. He knew that until Wapun had her turn on him he would not be released. God, he was living every man's wet dream.

Hours later they lead him, naked, through the pines to Diggers' cabin. His wrists were still bound and Sokanon held the strap, tugging him along. Wapun walked beside him with his clothes under one arm and a hand resting possessively on his ass. He felt light-headed and completely sated.

They lead him to the couch. Wapun slapped his ass and pushed him down. Sokanon rewound the leather straps, releasing one wrist but leaving the restraints on his other arm. He held tight to the leather. He was going to hold on to that as a memory aide on long, lonely nights. He snuggled into his couch. They covered him up and he heard them leave. He was completely drained. As his eyes closed and he drifted off it almost felt like a dream.

XXXXXXX

It was morning. He could tell. There was light everywhere and he could hear the noisy thump of booted feet coming up the porch steps. The door clicked open.

"Jesus, Dean!" it was Sammy's voice. "What the hell happened to you?'

Sam looked his brother over. Dean was naked, his blanket just clinging around his waist. His skin glowed and looked vaguely oily. His chest and neck were decorated with a multitude of love bites like purple roses. The most interesting thing though was the leather strap wound around his right wrist and up his forearm. In all the years Sam had seen his brother wake up from a night out he had never seen Dean look so debauched.

"Hi, Sammy." Dean yawned. "You know what? I'm beginning to like it here."

Digger came out from the back room, scratching his head and stretching his arms. He looked at Dean's condition and Sam's face. "OK, coffee first, I think." He wandered off to the kitchen and shortly the scent of coffee filled the air.

Den looked up at Sam. "Please get me some. Please, Sam. I'm still really tired."

Sam crossed his arms and huffed at his brother. Digger saved the moment by coming out of the kitchen with filled mugs in his hands.

"Judging by the evidence I would say you met the sisters." Digger smiled over his mug. "You're a lucky man. They're very picky about their toys."

"What evidence?" Dean asked

"Well, the leather strap is a dead giveaway. It's kind of like their signature. By the way, just so you know, if you were good they'll find you again. Something to look forward to." Digger's smile got bigger.

"Who are the sisters?" Sam asked.

"Women here are not subject to any hard and fast rules. They can go with the traditional arranged marriages, or pick their guy on their own from outside or, some of them, like the sisters, make their own way in the world. No one else has any say in their private business."

"You might be aware that the Cree traditionally have been very open about relationships outside the tribe. Considering that they are just about the largest existent Native American tribe, the cross breeding has worked well. There are almost a quarter of a million in Canada alone, consisting of 135 distinct bands."

"There is even a group, known as the Metis who are people of mixed First Nation and European ancestry. They have their own council, The Metis National Council, and are recognized as the Metis Nation. So, all in all, it's a pretty open minded society. The only thing that can really get you in trouble is divorce. We don't believe in it. If you elect to get married in this society you better mean it." Digger stood and went back to the kitchen for more coffee.

Sam turned to Dean "So, what happened to you?"

"You wouldn't believe it, Sam. I was captured, kidnapped, tied up and almost fucked to death. It could end up being the high point of my life." Dean sighed.

"So, after I get a shower, what's on our agenda today?" Dean stood up and wrapped his blanket around him like a toga.

"As long as you don't have something really important to do, like another date with your girlfriends, we were going to check on the lake today and make sure we had cleaned out those ugly suckers." Sam responded.

"Sounds like a plan. Speaking of dates, how did it go for you last night?"

Sam braced his forehead with his fingers. "It was not a date, Dean. Ayamis' father, Jacques, invited me over to look at his environment study. Before you say it, yes, he calls himself Jacques. He has another name, Kiskiyo. The name they use depends on who they're talking to and what they're talking about."

"Complicated." Dean said. "Does Ayamis have another name?"

"She uses Natalie at school. She's a biology major at the University of Calgary."

"I knew it!" Dean crowed. "A Geek Princess! How did you do it? I take you out to the middle of the woods and you still find your kind. There is a Geek mating call! What does it sound like? Can I hear it too or is it pitched too high for normal human hearing?"

Sam took a swing at his brother and chased him down the hall to the bathroom. Dean only escaped by locking the door.

Digger stuck his head around the corner "Save the furniture, guys!"

XXXXXXX

After he got out of the shower, Dean wanted to take another little nap but Sam said no. They had work to do. Sam, Dean and Digger got into the F-150 and drove back down to the lake. On the way Sam asked Digger if he knew how to get to the Burgess Shale site.

"I can get you there easily enough." Digger replied. "They even run tours. There's a visitor center and everything. Why do you want to go there? "

"It's a project of Sam's" Dean told him. "He's trying to get himself killed by ancient Goddesses. So far the score is Sam 2, Goddesses 0."

Sam dug an elbow into Dean's side so hard all the air was driven out of his brother's lungs. Sam regarded it as a win because Dean couldn't talk without air.

"What the hell?" Digger's eyebrows did a little dance.

"Ignore Mr. Jerk for me, Digger. It is a project but it's a search for knowledge, not a death wish. It's just something I want to do and Dean doesn't approve."

Dean got his breath back. "No I don't approve of giant, dancing women that try to rip your head off."

"Is that all you got out of my run-in with Kali? No sense of wonder? No curiosity about the basis of her creation? Knuckle-dragger."

Digger shook his head and rolled his eyes upward. "And I thought you guys might have problems adjusting to us. I guess I am lucky you left the furniture intact."

They parked beside the lake and faced the cliff again. The morning sun caused the quartz in the rock face to sparkle. There was a cool wind blowing over the glacier carved lake and the tall pines threw dark stripes of shadows onto the shore.

Dean had brought his trusty blanket with him. He was beginning to think he was going to steal it from Digger. There were a lot of memories getting wrapped up in the piece of cloth. Maybe he could make a trade.

He spread the blanket out and sat down with his back propped up on the base of one of the pines with his knees raised. Sam sat in front, between his legs, rested against his brother's chest and braced his elbows on Dean's knees. Dean wrapped his arms around Sam's chest. It looked like a very practiced arrangement.

"What are you going to do here?" Digger asked.

"Sam's going to take a little look-see through those caves. He's going to check for any left-over ghosts."

Digger frowned "And how does he do that?"

Dean looked up at Digger. "Keep this to yourself, OK? We don't want to attract too much attention to Sam. He can spirit walk. It's a long story about how he learned to do it and it can cause us a lot of potentially fatal trouble in the Hunter world if it becomes common knowledge."

"I'm his anchor for this ability and that gets me included in the Hunter trouble too. We are pretty much trusting you with our lives right now. I would like it if you could keep an eye out for guys with rifles. We know there are hunters on our trail."

Digger stared at them for a minute, absorbing and processing the information. Then he walked to the truck and got a pair of binoculars from the glove compartment. Coming back he stood beside them and started scanning the landscape.

Sam breathed deeply and listened to the silence around him. Gradually he relaxed into the trance state and felt his Ka begin to separate. Soon he was moving over the lake waters and observing the cliff face in front of him. Here and there he could see faint glows in caves that could be spirits. He climbed up to the brightest one.

Entering the cave he saw the physical manifestation of the horrible 'hairy ghost'. But even as ugly as it was, there was something wrong with it. It looked weak, floppy, compressed. The longer he stared at it the more he saw the old man it used to be.

The man turned to look at him and one hand of the ghost twitched; the fingers moving. Sam looked for a sign of consciousness or intelligence but what he found was a black, empty void Here and there a neuron flashed to life and the memory of a face or an animal bloomed for a moment and then was gone. He had a feeling that what he was looking at was a case of advanced Alzheimer's.

He had no idea of how to proceed. He did not feel this ghost was dangerous but the pain was more than any one should bear. The old man was lost and suffering.

He tried to help. In the old man's mind he created a picture of the sun. It appeared to work. The old man raised his face to the sky and tried to raise his hands. He smiled. It may have been the first thing he had recognized for many years. His spirit glow dimmed further and further an in a soft minute he was gone.

Sam checked the rest of the caves. Most cases were as Nixkamich had expected. The ghosts were so old and frail they were no more than fireflies in their last moments of existence.

Sam returned to Deans arms and awoke.

"All done?" Dean asked.

"Yes, this place should stay clean for a while. All the very oldest ones are fading on their own. The one that was a problem I helped leave. Digger's Hunter army can take care of any new ones that pop up. Right, Digger?" Sam smiled up at Digger standing over them.

Digger extended a hand to help them up. "You got it. Let's go get lunch."


	14. Chapter 14 - Moving Targets

The Winchester brothers and associated characters belong to Kripke Enterprise, Inc. and the CW, not me. I use the characters for my personal amusement only.

**Sons of the Morning**

Chapter 14

**Moving Targets**

_I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north – an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, but each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings, and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved…._

_As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each creature with its four faces. This was the appearance and structure of the wheels: They sparkled like topaz, and all four looked alike. Each appeared to be made like a wheel intersecting a wheel…Their rims were high and awesome, and all four rims were full of eyes all around…._

_Spread out above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome. Under the vault their wings were stretched out one toward the other, and each had two wings covering its body. When the creatures moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the roar of rushing waters, like the voice of the Almighty, like the tumult of an army…._

_From The Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible_

_Ezekiel's vision of the Wheel in The Sky, 592 B.C._

Digger helped Sam and Dean up. "You guys done now?"

""Yeah," responded Sam. "Your caves are cleared. We're handing off the case to your team. Someone should check periodically to see if anything is going on. Bye the way, there was one old ghost who, I think, died down here when he wandered off with Alzheimer's. That's not normal, is it? I mean, just letting them go die?"

"No, it's not." Digger bit at his upper lip. I don't even know of anyone who had a relative come up missing that way. We usually deal with something like that by banding together to set them up in a nursing home. It's too dangerous up here for a person with diminished capacity. It had to be an old ghost."

"He's gone now. He wasn't really trying to hurt anyone he was just lost and afraid." Sam dusted his clothes.

"What's up now, besides lunch?" Sam looked at Dean then Digger. "We have anything else to handle?"

"Not that I know about. Do you want me to drive you up to the Burgess Shale site? It's only a couple of hours up the mountains." Digger offered.

Sam considered, and then turned to Dean. "You know I really want to go, but first I need a little time to research a few points. Could we go tomorrow?"

Dean shrugged. "It's your party. I'm just your good old light in the window. Are you sure you can go back that far and come home again? How far back is it? Five hundred million years?"

"Whoa." Digger put in. "What are you talking about?"

"Yeah, along with spirit walking Sam can walk through time. He already told you that I don't like it." Dean stuffed his hands in his pockets and hunched his shoulders, purposely looking out over the lake instead of at Sam.

Sam scratched at the back of his head. "I had an experience earlier this month where I went back about three hundred million years. I saw something there that I want to follow up and to do that I need to be able to touch or come in contact with an object that comes from the time period I want to visit. I thought of the Burgess Shale and that is why we showed up here. I would really appreciate it if you took us over there. Dean's in a snit about it. He'll probably fight me about driving."

"Hey, I don't do little girl snits! I have a valid concern about your safety." Dean cut in.

"Zip it, Dean. I know you don't want me to go but I need you so put on your big boy pants and cooperate." Sammy snarled

Dean started to throw a punch but Digger stepped between them. "Knock it off! Could you two really stress yourselves out and act like adults? Holy crap! How the hell do the two of you ever get anything done?"

XXXXXXX

Digger drove them back up to the cabin. They settled in the living room, Dean stretched out on what he now considered 'his' couch wrapped in 'his' blanket and Sam went off to the kitchen to snag them all beers.

"Sam," Digger said. "Tell me exactly what's up with this trip to the Burgess Shale site.

"Damn, Digger," Dean snorted. "You just popped the cork out of the bottle. Better settle in with a note pad and pen and get ready to be introduced to Professor Sam."

Sam retaliated by smacking the side of Dean's foot and knocking it to the floor.

After the earth cooled and oceans formed…" Sam started.

"Oh, hell! Is it necessary to go back to the beginning of the world?' Digger moaned. "You tell stories like the old men. Ask a question and they go back to the creation of the first native and come forward. It can take all day to get an answer."

"Sit down and drink your beer and let me talk or this will take all night." Sam replied.

"OK, after the earth cooled and the oceans formed and the moon was blasted out of the earth by a probable meteor strike about four and half billion years ago nothing happened for about a half billion years. In the oceans were single celled creatures and RNA molecules but that was it. At the end of the first billion years came oxygen producing bacteria. Another four hundred million years produced the first stromatolites (don't ask, too complicated) formed, probably, of colonial cyanobacteria or algae."

"Finally, two billion years after the formation of the planet the first complex single-celled life appeared. In another billion years the first mult-celled animals came into being, worms, sponges, and jelly like bags that didn't even deserve the name of jelly fish. This was the sum of creation after three billion years."

Then, suddenly in geologic terms, came the Cambrian explosion. Life, in a multitude of forms, appeared, about five hundred seventy million years ago; all ocean creatures but in huge varieties. Animal phyla appeared in an array of forms. No explanation of this sudden creative burst of animal forms has ever been determined."

"Today only four arthropod phyla survive but there is evidence in the Burgess Shale of at least twenty more, none of which survived. One creature that did survive was a small fish like creature with a notochord, the precursor of the spinal cord. While larger, faster more aggressive creatures disappeared forever; this little fish became the ancestor of man. Bilateral symmetry and spinal cords won."

"I once heard a story and remember a single line. God spoke to an angel who was posted on earth to observe: 'Don't step on that little grey fish, Castiel. Big plans for that little fish.' I want to go back and observe the incident that created the Burgess Shale. I want to know what happened." Sam finished speaking and there was silence in the room.

"You don't dream small, do you Sam?' Digger commented.

"He doesn't mention that the last time he pulled something like this he was chased back home by a pissed off Goddess, though." Dean interjected. Shaking his head, he went on. "Who knows what'll come after him now."

"I want to see what happened. I want to watch that worlds' oceans and see if Kali dances there too or what stands in her place. I want to know what caused the Cambrian explosion. It will never convince any scientists but at least I will know." Sam responded to Dean's rant.

Digger stood up and tossed his empty beer can in the trash. "Don't be so sure that no one else will care, Sam. There may be people here who would be open to these ideas. I'll take you both up to the site tomorrow. Let's go find out what's for lunch."

"Hell, yeah." Dean got off the couch. "Food! There we go. That's the best idea I've heard in the past hour."

XXXXXXX

The next day they all got into Digger's truck and drove up to the Burgess Shale site. Pulling up to the visitor's center they were faced with a naked mountain side, covered in brownish loose shale. Not pretty except when you looked off in the distance at the snow covered peaks of the Rockies. They took the Forest Service approved tour and wandered where they were allowed. They were waiting for the cover of darkness to start Sam's time walk.

The mountain was so stark after a hundred years of fossil hunting that there was really no place to hide.

It looked like they would have to drive down the road a bit and then walk back after hiding the truck. It was that or hiding in the bathrooms. That plan would have left the truck in the parking lot, probably causing the Rangers to hunt for them. People had a tendency to want to walk off with their own personal piece of the Burgess Shale so the Rangers kept their eyes open.

They ate dinner at the visitor's center and then watched as the tourists began to drive off the mountain as the sun was setting. They were the last one left in the dining room. The staff began to pack up the steam tables and clear the floor.

Dean made a bathroom run and he swore he heard movement in the other stalls but no one else appeared. Going back to Digger and Sam, they all got their jackets and headed to the truck. After driving down the hill for about a mile they were comfortable with pulling off on an escape siding and hiding the truck and then walked back up hill, dodging and hiding from the Rangers vehicles.

Slipping over the side of the dining room veranda they set themselves up with the faithful blanket and Dean leaned his back against a pier for the porch. He checked that Sam had a good view of the Wallace dig and they got into position.

There was silence on the mountain. The only thing Dean heard was some slipping of the shale. He figured that Digger was out walking around and didn't worry about it. He and Sam both closed their eyes and relaxed.

Sam's Ka was soon wandering over the site, looking for a fossil imprint to slide down the time stream. There were no hard fossils left here. There were carbon imprints in the mudstone; delicate and detailed but fragile and easily damaged. He found a hot spot and sat down to wait.

He felt the downward drift and soon opened his eyes on a landscape that didn't even look like earth. There was a muddy, algae stained shoreline against a murky, moving sea. The only activity on the planet seemed to be the moon's pull on the tides. The moon was enormous and seemed too close to earth. There was no vegetation. He was definitely out of place and very obvious. There was absolutely no place to hide.

He realized that he was most likely sitting right on the top of the cliff that was scheduled to collapse and bury the animals that were to become the Burgess Shale fossils far down on the sea bed. He started to crab walk backwards towards higher ground. He didn't want to go down with the expected slide.

He heard at a distance a sound like cymbals clashing. Looking off over the sea he saw something approaching. It might be a waterspout but he just was not sure. He heard the clash of cymbals again but he could not wrap his mind around what was coming at him. Was this what he was here looking for? He could not see it clearly because he had no frame of reference for this phenomenon. It swirled and glowed and rumbled and seemed to threaten.

It crossed his mind to wonder if he was seeing Ezekiel's Wheel in the Sky. Why that suddenly leaped to mind he had no idea. He heard the crash of cymbals again and then he thought he heard his brother's voice screaming his name. Maybe he and Ezekiel were in the same boat. There were not words to describe what he was seeing.

There was a wild burst of wind, pushing the sea waters higher and he was watching the cliff collapse. He knew that this is what buried the animals under the sea. There was no plan, no Godly finger picking and choosing who lived and who died. There was only chance and the falling mud, burying the losers in life's game. Hellucigenia with its spikes as legs, Opabimia with its five eyes and frontal 'nozzle', Anomalocaris, the two foot long terror of these ancient seas, all gone. The little grey fish swam away from danger and went on. Luck of the draw.

Again he heard Dean's voice screaming his name. There was a smell in the air. He was being drawn up the time stream ad it was not his decision to go. He didn't know enough. Then he recognized the smell. It was blood.

He awoke in Dean's arms but the front of his shirt was soaked in blood. The smell was sharp in the air. He heard the cymbals crash again and realized it was gunshots, not cymbals. Dean had been shot in the shoulder.

"Dean, what the hell?" Sam screamed.

"I think it's the Cantrells, Sammy. Look, I want you to crawl away under the veranda. Work your way back to the truck." Dean was panting in pain.

"I won't leave you here." Sam grabbed at his brother's arm. "You're wounded. We have to run."

"Look, Sam, if you want to protect me then run like hell and look for Digger or for a gun. You know I'll throw myself in front of you. I can't help it. Go, I'll draw them in another direction."

Another shot cracked and echoed off the mountain side. Dean shoved his brother further under the porch and took off for the shale bed.

Sam looked back and decided his brother was right. The only thing he could do was look for help or a weapon. He scuttled along under the veranda, hunched over like a giant spider.

Dean ran through the loose shale. He could hear footsteps sliding on the debris behind him and he could hear shouts and whistles. He thought he had drawn all three of the ambushers after him but he didn't really know. There was another shot and pain ripped through his left calf muscle. Now he was limping and bleeding. He hoped they slid and fell on the slippery blood.

No denying his speed was decreased. He heard heavy breathing and then he was tackled and thrown to the ground.

Rolling over he looked up a rifle barrel and into the eyes of Rafe Cantrell. Rafe's cousins, Tom and Andy, stood on either side of him. It looked like Andy had done the tackle. He had blood all over the front of his shirt.

"Alright Winchester, enough running." Rafe snarled. He aimed down his rifle barrel and targeted Dean's right knee. Tom swung his rifle like a club and hit Dean high up on the side of his head, snapping it to the side.

"Where's your freak of a brother? Not saying you aren't one too. We saw your little hug fest under the porch. You guys perverts as well as freaks? Come on, where is he? Tom, hit him again." Rafe motioned to his cousin and Tom hit Dean between the eyes with the rifle stock. Blood poured into Dean's eyes.

"Go to hell you inbred pigs." Dean snarled back at them.

"Sam!" Rafe yelled back at the building. "Come out where we can see you or I'm gonna knee-cap your brother." He smiled down at Dean, showing what was left of his teeth.

"Sam, last chance, I'm counting to three." Rafe shouted again.

Dean smirked. "Can you get that high?"

Tom hit him in the face again with the rifle. Blood flew on all of them. "Shit." Tom said. "I hope he doesn't have anything catching."

Dean smiled at him. "Don't worry. You have to be human to catch anything from me."

Rafe spit. "OK, that's it. Show's over. We'll catch the other later."

Just then Rafe's head disappeared in a shower of blood and bone and chucks of brain matter and the sound of a shot echoed around the hills again. Rafe's body dropped straight down like a bag of potatoes. Tom got a shot into his arm and dropped the bloody rifle. Andy decided to run but only made a couple of steps when another shot took his legs out from under him and he rolled down the shale bed.

Dean stood. "Sam!" he yelled, wondering where his brother had found a gun so fast.

"Sorry, not Sam." Digger appeared a little way off, his rifle over his shoulder.

He walked up and poked at Tom. "I'm not going to kill you, asshole for only one reason. You're going to go pick up your friend over there and then go back to where every the hell you come from and tell all your friends not to screw with my little brother."

For emphasis Digger kicked Tom in his wounded shoulder. "You understand me, shithead?"

Tom grabbed at his wound and said "Yes Sir. I understand. You a Winchester too?"

"For right now and as far as you are concerned, yes." Digger replied. "Don't forget it and don't come back up in these mountains again or we'll skin you and use you for wolf meat."

Off in the distance Dean hear the howls and yips of the spirit wolves. Tom heard it too and started to shake.

"Let me go get my brother. We'll be out of here right quick. Rafe was the cause of all this. We were just along for the ride." Tom scrambled up and headed for Andy.

"Dean!" Sam's voice floated over the shale.

"Come on over Sam. All clear." Dean shouted back.


	15. Chapter 15 - Aftermath and Morning Sun

The Winchester and associated characters from the TV show belong to Kripke and the CW, not me. No money is being made off this story. It is just for my own enjoyment.

**Sons of the Morning**

Chapter 15

**Aftermath and the Morning Sun**

_There'll be no strings to bind your hands_

_Not if my love can't bind your heart_

_There's no need to take a stand_

_For it was I who chose to start_

_I see no need to take me home_

_I'm old enough to face the dawn._

_Just call me angel of the morning, angel._

_Just touch my cheek before you leave me, baby._

_Just call me angel of the morning, angel._

_Then slowly turn away from me._

_Maybe the sun's light will be dim_

_And it won't matter anyhow_

_If morning's echoes say we've sinned_

_Well, it was what I wanted now_

_And, if we're victims of the night_

_I won't be blinded by the light_

_Just call me angel of the morning_

Angel of the Morning, written by Chip Taylor, first recorded in 1967

Multiple recordings by multiple artists down through the years

Digger gathered his "little brother" up in his arms. Sam danced around them, picking up their debris and touching his brother's foot or hand in passing, just to make sure Dean was still with them. Digger carried Dean all the way back to the parking lot. When they got to the truck he stopped and asked Sam to take supplies from behind the bench seat and make a "nest" for Dean in the bed of the pickup, He used a first aid kit from the tool box and did an emergency patch up of Dean's wounds, enough to stop the bleeding.

As soon as Dean was settled to Digger's satisfaction he waved Sam into the truck bed. "Do what you can for him, Sam. Try to hold him down and keep him from rolling around. This is not an easy road to travel. We're going to take him to the tribe's emergency room. I'll call ahead."

"I'm going to go back now and do something with that guy's body. Don't need the Rangers sniffing around if we can help it. Dean should be fine for a while unless the bleeding gets worse, but I'm pretty sure you know what to do about that. Anything you might need should be in the kit."

Sam watched Digger looking for various supplies. He saw a gasoline can and a big bag of road salt shoved into a duffle bag. Digger grabbed a shovel and left.

Dean moaned and Sam tended to his brother, making him as comfortable as he could. When he looked up again Digger was gone. Because of the possibility of concussion, Sam tried to keep Dean focused on his voice. He threw another blanket over to keep him warm and out of shock.

"You want some water, Dean?" Dean waved a hand and Sam went looking for the canteen. Slowly he carefully dribbled water into his brother's mouth.

After a little while Sam saw a glow start up from over the hill. He couldn't imagine where Digger found wood to keep the body burning on such barren ground but he trusted Digger to get the job done. After a while Digger came back and carefully put the shovel back in the truck bed. They drove off down the mountain, heading back to the camp.

It seemed longer returning than it had driving up but Sam realized that Digger was trying to make the ride as smooth as possible. Dean resolutely refused to make any noise. The previous moan evidently was an unconscious slip.

In time Digger got them back to camp. He drove past the car shed and further into the body of the camp. They pulled up outside a cabin that had an emergency medical kit with a red cross on it displayed in a window. This evidently was the hospital. Two women came out to greet them.

"Hello, Sokanon," Said Digger. I brought your friend Dean for you. Do you think you can get the bullets out of him? Sam poked his head up. Sokanon was the name of one of Dean's girlfriends, he thought.

Dean muttered something. "Did he say Sokanon?"

Digger came back to the truck to get Dean. "Hey, Dean, I think you know our doctor, Sokanon." Digger smiled and started to gather Dean up in is arms again. Dean pushed him away.

"No way you're carrying me in there, Dude. I can do it on my own." Dean was embarrassed to be seen as weak by Sokanon. To make it perfect, Dean realized the other woman was Wapun. As he tried to stand the leg with the bullet in it went out from under him and he ended up in Digger's arms anyway. Now he turned all shades of red and Digger picked him up.

As they went up the stairs Digger introduced Sam. "Sam, these ladies are our medical professionals. Sokanon is the Doctor and Wapun is the technician. She takes the x-rays."

"Ladies, this is Dean's brother, Sam. Where do you want Dean? He's getting heavy."

"Take him to the x-ray room, Digger," Wapun followed him in with Sokanon and Sam trailing behind.

Sam turned to Sokanon. "You should know that Dean gets really loopy on painkillers. He's very sensitive and gets a little spacy when he's on them."

"Don't worry Sam. We'll take good care of him, we have a vested interest." she replied.

It struck Sam that she was being funny.

XXXXXXX

Sam stood on the front porch in the early morning, looking over the mountains to the misty horizon. The sun had just risen and the night's mists were still hugging the mountain slides. He could feel the growing warmth on his shoulders.

This was the third day after he had turned Dean over to the tribe's 'medical professionals' and it still made him laugh. He hoped Dean was getting some rest. He was shot in the shoulder and the calf. That left a lot of uninjured body in between and his brother could compartmentalize his pain if he had good reason.

Sam had spent the time with Digger and Ayamis and Nixkamich. He had something laying heavy on his mind and all three people could tell he was hiding something. Sam wanted to talk to Dean first before telling anyone else what had happened on his time walk.

This morning he decided to go visit Dean. He picked up Dean's blanket from the couch and set out for the medical cabin.

Wapun stood on the porch, watching the mountains just as Sam had done. He stood beside her. "Good," she said. "You brought his blanket. He's been asking for it. Oh, here," she fished around in her smock pocket. "Here's your phone. Digger brought them both over and we charged them up for you." She dropped the device in his hand.

Sam had not realized how much he had missed his phone. With it in his hand he felt an actual re-connection to the world, as if the camp were somehow out of time with the rest of the earth.

"Thanks. I think I really missed it off and on."

"No problem. Dean's awake by the way. I just fed him his breakfast. You want some?" Wapun asked.

"That would be wonderful, if you don't mind." Sam replied. "I'm going to go into to see Dean now."

Sam went into Dean's room to find his brother bright eyed and bushy tailed, as the mountain people say. Dean pushed his way up against the headboard, evidently ready for some new entertainment after three days in bed.

"Hey Sam, what's going on outside these walls? You got to rescue me. I'm going crazy." Dean complained with a big smile on his face.

"I recommend you stay in here," Sam shook his head. "You come back with me and no more pampering, or breakfast or anything else in bed. You look like you're in heaven. Take advantage."

Dean did look immensely improved over the bloody semi-conscience mess Digger had carried in less than seventy two hours ago. He looked healthy and happy. Sokanon's medical skills were evidently the best. If any other skills had been used to bring Dean's smile back Sam wasn't going to question them.

"Dean, I really have to discuss what happened to me back on the Burgess Shale trip. I need your help dealing with it." Sam sat and let his hands hang down between his knees. His face was serious and he looked straight into Dean's eyes. He wanted Dean to know what they were going to talk about was not a matter for Dean's banter.

"What happened, Sam? Are you in trouble?"

"I don't know. I don't think you heard anything I may have said about the trip. You were in pretty bad shape and I don't remember saying anything."

"No, mostly I remember blood and gunshots, pain and bouncing around in the back of that damned truck. Dean replied. "I don't think you said squat about your trip to find God. How did that go?"

"I saw something, Dean." Sam took a deep breath and looked down at his hands. "Damned if I know what it was. I feel a lot like Ezekiel. I saw something I can't explain because I don't have words to explain it. Two thousand five hundred years ago it is possible Ezekiel saw the same thing. The Prophet tried to describe what he saw in the sky with words from his life experience, animals and wheels and colors like precocious gems, topaz and sapphire."

"I have been talking to myself for the past three days trying to find a way to describe it, not to other people, but to myself. I still can't see it clearly in my head and that might be, I think, because it wasn't completely visual. Part of it may have been in my mind. I keep seeing a mathematical structure. There was wind but it ran in a circle. In the wind appeared almost recognizable figures but before I could identify them they were replaced "

"The roaring was mixed with the sounds of your gunshots and I thought it was cymbals crashing together. There may have been cymbals and the ringing of bells but I could not separate them and my mind was running with the wind. I couldn't concentrate. I felt it, whatever it was, pulling at me. If you hadn't screamed my name and called me to come back and help you I might have been ripped apart and gone into the wind. I think sometimes that the figures might have been other captured creatures. I have no idea what it was all about and I may have seen God or a completely indifferent force."

Sam stopped for a moment and looked up at Dean's face. "It touched me."

"Damn, Sam." Dean was shocked. "Did it change anything? Do you feel different? Any damage?"

"When I was trapped with Lucifer in the cage something touched me and my soul shattered. You know what happened then. One shard allows me to spirit walk. I call it my Ka because only in Egyptian mythology do I find anything about a soul rendered into pieces." Sam went on.

"Now I feel something else has changed. Deep inside I feel a bell that tolls. It sends vibrations through my body and I hold it down. I have not wanted to respond to that tolling until I had you beside me."

Dean rose from his bed. "Where do you want to go, Sam? How do I help you?"

"Hold on, Dean. I want to talk to Sokanon first. I think that you will have to be pretty much restored to be able to help me. We can't go into this thing at half strength." Sam once again looked at his hands. "Besides, I think I did something to you too."

"What the hell are you talking about? You did something to me too?" Dean looked for his clothes. He found his pants in the bedside cabinet and was hopping around on one foot trying to work them on.

Just then Wapun walked in with a tray in her hands. "Here, Sam. Here is the breakfast I promised you. Are you guys OK? Do you need anything? I see Dean found his pants. That's a good sign." She laughed.

"Thanks you so much." Sam responded. "There is something we need. Can you find Sokanon for us? I think that Dean wants to leave and I would like to know what she thinks of the idea."

"She's right down the hall wrapping up some kid's foot. Just pulled out a splinter you could use for fire kindling. Dumb kid was walking around on it. I'll get her for you." with that she was gone.

"So what did you do to me, Sam?" Dean continued the conversation.

"In the truck, when I was trying to hold you still I ran my hand along your face to clean some of the blood off. As I touched the blood on your face I heard this bell noise deep inside and a current passed through my hands into the open wound. Have you felt anything strange over the past few days?"

Sam looked up at Dean. "Don't lie or tell me you're fine. Tell me the truth."

"The truth is, Sam. I feel really good." Dean answered.

"And that is strange." Another voice chimed in. Sokanon stood in the door way. "Sam, Your brother has healed up remarkably fast. Even his bullet wounds are beginning to close over. "Do you have any idea why that would be? " She pushed herself off the door frame and entered the room. Her eyebrows were arched and she sent a piercing look at Sam. "It's definitely not normal. He is healing about twice as fast as he should be. I'd like to know the secret."

Sam ran his hands through his hair and then rubbed this forehead. "I don't really know exactly what is going on. That's why I came to see if he is ready to go. We'll find out but we have to be alone."

Sam stood and looked at Dean. "You ready? Where's your boots?"

Dean moved around finding pieces of himself here and there. The last thing he picked up was his blanket. "Yeah, ready to go. Thanks for everything Sokanon. Tell Wapun thanks too. OK?" he put his hand out to her.

She took his hand and pulled him forward. In a practiced move she lifted his eyelid and looked deeply into one eye then the other. "OK, you get going. I want to see you back here in a couple of days or if anything feels wrong. Don't forget because I have ways to find you. You can't hide from me."

Dean laughed and he and Sam headed out the door. Outside they continued to walk to the edge of camp and back out into the forest. After a while they found a nice little clearing,

"You know, I'm taking this blanket where ever I go from now on." Dean shook it out and spread it on the ground. "I don't remember the last time I found something so useful." They sat in the sun.

"Right, you're just getting attached to it. It's your security blanket. Don't worry. I won't tell anyone." Sam laughed.

"First of all," Dean started. "It looks like you did something to me that makes me heal faster. Nice one. I was wondering when I was going to get in on the powers grab bag. I was beginning to get jealous. Now let's check out your bell thing. Weird shit."

Sam reached out and took Dean's hands. "What the hell is this?" Dean asked.

"Just let me hold on for once. It makes me feel safer." Sam responded. "You aren't going to die from holding hands with your brother."

Sam dropped his head, closed his eyes and tried to find the feeling he expressed as the tolling of a bell. Once he focused on it he let it swell up louder and louder until he could feel it inside his ears. His whole head vibrated with it.

"Sam! Sam! Stop!" he could hear Dean yelling. He opened his eyes but didn't let go of the feeling. He was learning to like it. It was like he was purring. Dean looked panicked. He could not hear exactly what Dean was saying so he stopped the bell from tolling and the feeling passed away.

"What?" Sam snapped at Dean. "I was getting into it. What happened to you?"

"To me! Damn it, Sam you were turning into something that looked like a freaking giant cat." Dean snapped back at his brother.

"That's a new one. What kind of a cat?" Sam asked.

"What kind of a cat! Are you nuts? I tell you that you started changing into a giant cat and you want to know what kind? That's your response? I'd be a little more freaked by the species of animal I was turning into instead of the breed." Dean tossed Sam's hands away.

"Answer the question, Dean. It could be important. Regard it as a clue."

"Alright, you looked like one of those Egyptian cats." Dean turned and stretched, lacing his fingers behind his head and facing into the sun. For just a moment Sam thought he glowed.

"Abyssinian or Sphinx?" Sam pressed on.

"What's the one they made the big statue of at the pyramids?" Dean asked. He yawned and spread his arms. Once again he was outlined against the sun and Sam he looked like a glowing angel.

"A Sphinx. Great. " Sam growled. "The one creature whose beginnings are a complete mystery. They appeared in Egypt almost twelve thousand years ago and have appeared spontaneously all over the world, including Greece, Mesopotamia, Sri Lanka and India to mention just a few. I hope I was an Egyptian sphinx; at least those ones were male. You're sure I wasn't Bastet, a kind of tall and thin, regal looking cat, usually wearing earrings?"

"No, Sam. No earrings. Big cat outside the pyramids. Sorry." Dean answered.

"No, no, that's good. Anything else would just be embarrassing." Sam assured him.

They started picking up their stuff and there was a buzzing noise. "I think that's your phone, Dean." Sam said. "They re-charged them for us at the medical building."

Dean pealed his phone out of his jacket pocket. "Hello? Oh, Hi Garth. What's up? Yeah, the phone's been off for a while. Couldn't find the charger. Yeah, sorry." Dean listened for a few minutes. Sam could hear Garth's voice rising and falling.

"Really?' Dean responded into the phone. "Thanks a lot. We'll keep an eye pealed. When did this start? We'll be careful. Most likely see you in a couple of days. Still hanging at Elroy's bar? OK." Dean hung up.

"What's up, Dean?"

"Let me start at the top," he replied. "My brother just tried to turn into a cat in front of me. Tom and Andy made it back down to the lower 48 and are at Elroys in Nebraska telling weird stories about supernatural Winchesters and their spirit wolves hiding out in the Canadian Rockies."

"Evidently I am now firmly classified as a fair hunt since I help you spirit walk and I heal twice as fast as normal people even if the hunters only know about the first thing. Our good old buddies Walt and Roy are also at Elroys, eating up Tom and Andy's stories and telling some of their own about us coming back from the dead."

"Oh yeah, Garth called because the hunters at Elroys are taking this all personally and are forming a posse to come up here and hunt us down. I don't think I missed anything. If I did I don't want to hear about it." Dean snapped the phone closed and put it away.

"Come on, princess. Or should I change that to pussy-cat now? Let's go find Digger and tell him to double up on the wolf patrols. We probably should hit the road and go visit Garth."


	16. Chapter 16 - The sphinx and the Legend

Sam and Dean Winchester and any other characters associated with Supernatural belong to Kripke Enterprises, Inc. and CW, not me. Written for my own amusement, not for money.

**Sons of the Morning**

Chapter 16

**The Sphinx and the Legend**

_Under the names of Osiris, Tammuz, Adonis, and Attis, the people of Egypt and Western Asia represented the yearly decay and revival of life…which they personified as a god who annually died and rose again from the dead. In the religious literature of Babylonia, Tammuz appears as the youthful spouse or lover of Ishtar, the great mother goddess, the embodiment of the reproductive energies of nature. Every year Tammuz was believed to die, passing from the cheerful earth to the gloomy subterranean world and every year his divine mistress journeyed in quest of him "to the land from which there is no return, to the house of darkness, where dust lies on door and bolt". The queen of the infernal regions, Allatu, allowed Ishtar to be sprinkled with the Water of Life and to depart, in company with her lover Tammuz that the two might return together to the upper world and with their return all nature might revive_

From The Golden Bough, A study in Magic and Religion

By Sir James Fraser, London, 1922

Standing up, Dean picked up his blanket and folded it over his arm. "Are we going to tell anyone about your cat-tastrophe? Or are we going to keep it to ourselves?"

Sam followed Dean back through the woods. "I'm not really sure what we should do. I'd like to know a little bit more before we show anyone else. I don't want them to freak out and shoot me. And it's not just me."

"What are you talking about?" responded Dean. "It wasn't me back there growing fur and whiskers."

"No, but you didn't see what I saw." Sam picked up a stick and poked at his brother. "You were glowing."

"Glowing, what the hell does that mean? Stop poking me or I'll park that stick some place uncomfortable." Dean made to grab the stick from his brother.

"At first I thought it was just the sunlight behind you, but you're still doing it. Sam waved his stick. "Look at your hands."

Dean looked at his hands as they passed into the shadow of the trees. There was a mild golden light around them, like an aura. Spooked, he shook them quickly. In the shade there was an actual gold smearing effect which passed quickly but was definitely visible, tracing the path of his hands.

"What the hell, Sam? Is this something you gave me? Tell me I caught "glowy light" thing from you, you freak."

"I don't know." Sam answered. "I'm not glowing but then you're not turning into a cat either."

"Maybe this thing that got at me has different effects on different people. I will tell you one thing though that you should be aware of." Sam rubbed the back of his neck. "I have an almost overwhelming urge to touch you."

He stepped forward into Dean's space.

Dean almost tripped dodging away from Sam's hand. "Back off, cat boy. Once again, what the hell? "

"I don't know, Dean." Sam looked nervous. "I have never had the urge to just grab you before. You better hope it's only me. I guess we'll know when we get back to camp."

They found out pretty quickly. When they stepped out of the trees every person within twenty feet snapped to attention. They all focused on Dean and a couple of them even stood up like they were going to come towards him.

"Head for the medical cabin." Sam pushed Dean, an oddity since they routinely did not touch each other.

They got up the steps and inside as quickly as they could. Sam grabbed Dean's elbow. "Sit down. I'll go find Sokanon."

Dean jerked his arm out of Sam's hand. "OK, I'll sit. Just stop touching me."

Sam was back with both Sokanon and Wapun in a minute.

Both women stopped dead as they entered the room, then immediately moved on Dean. He backed up but had nowhere to go so climbed up on the chair and put his back against the wall.

"Hey, back off! What's going on here?" Dean sounded panicked.

Wapun got ahold of an ankle but Sokanon rammed her hands in her smock pockets. She looked at her sister and wiggled an eyebrow. "Do you smell that?"

"You smell something?" Wapun asked. "I feel a kind of buzz. What did you do Dean? Are you wearing something strange? What is this weird effect?"

"I have no idea." Dean nervously responded. "Ask Mr. Wizard over there."

Everybody looked at Sam. "Can we all just sit down? And maybe let go of Dean. I think it's making him tense."

Dean slid back down to the seat of his arm chair. Both Sokanon and Wapun pulled up light side chairs and sat next to him, one on the left and one on the right. Wapun reclaimed a body part and fastened on to his wrist. He looked at her and visibly decided not to fight it. Sokanon snuck a hand around to the back of his neck. Sam watched the action and snorted.

"I think you're going to have to learn to control it or live with it, Dean. Ignoring it isn't going to work. Hold on, I'm going to call Digger and Nixkamich. "Sam took out his phone and made the call.

In a few more minutes both men were with them. They both eyed Dean strangely.

"What's this?" Digger asked.

Sokanon answered before Dean did. "I think it's some form of subliminal message. I get it as a smell, like musk. Wapun feels a kind of buzzing. What about you guys? Is it just limited to females?"

"No," Sam answered. "I don't know about Digger and Grandfather but I feel almost a compulsion to touch him. If I get too close I can't help myself."

Digger and Nixkamich confirmed Sam's feeling. They weren't getting physical sensations like the women but there was some kind of a call they couldn't describe.

"This seems to be an after effect of my time trip up on the Burgess Shale. I'm going to show you something. Don't freak out and don't shoot me. Just know that I seem to have passed this on to Dean when I touched his bloody wound in the truck. Watch."

Sam concentrated and found the bell sounding again within him. He could feel everyone in the room stiffen and he know he was changing again. It felt good. He liked it. After a minute he looked up at the people.

"Wow," said Digger. "Good trick. Is it still you in there?"

"Yes, it's me." Sam said. "Funny, that's the first time I have talked like this. What do I look like?"

"Now I have the urge not so much to touch Dean, but to go find some really big dry cat treats." Digger laughed but seemed to be taking the whole thing well.

"You look like a really big cat. But something more than just a cat." Digger walked over and around Sam. "You know, I think you might have wings back here. What does that make you?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm an Egyptian Sphinx." Sam replied. "This just happened to us within the past hour. I think we need a little time to get used to it."

"I think the world might need time to get used to both of you." Digger said. "A golden glowing guy and a huge red-brown cat are going to attract a lot of attention, especially if one of you is driving.

"Hey, Sam," Dean pitched in. "Can you spread those wings? I kinda want to get the whole effect."

Sam stood and stretched. His fingertips brushed the ceiling and he rolled his shoulders. Although his face remained pretty much the same except for cat whiskers and a light dusting of red-brown facial hair, his body was elongated and supple, very much like a cat. There was a rustling noise and the stylized wings of a Sphinx arced up and appeared behind his shoulders, faintly waving. They were russet colored just like his hair. The colors of the desert, russet and umber and delicately shaded shadows decorated the individual feathers, throwing them into clear relief.

"It's been said before but needs to be said again…Wow!" Dean commented.

Sam sat and stopped the tolling of his internal bell. His body morphed back to human.

Everyone in the room was silent. Now Sam was nervous.

"I can tell you all what I know about Sphinx." Sam said.

Dean put his hands up, dislodging Wapun's hand on his wrist. She made a grab and captured a knee. "Great, get ready for Professor Sam,"

Sam ignored the comment and started; "Sphinx appeared very early in Egyptian religious art. They are thought to have originally been Ethiopian and were considered Guardians, especially of tombs and temples and early on were almost exclusively male. The oldest known statue of one was found about one hundred miles East of Kortik Tepe, Turkey and has been dated to 9,500 B.C."

"It became common to build rows of them on approaches to important tombs and temples. In Thebes over nine hundred of them, with the heads of rams, were built on the approach to the Temple of Ammon."

"The best known statue of one is the Great Sphinx on the Giza Plateau. It was once thought that the Sphinx was built there to protect the Pyramids. Now there is a theory that the Pyramids were built there to be near the Sphinx and enjoy its protection. It became common in Egypt to carve the head of the Sphinx into the image of a Pharaoh to emphasize the Pharaoh's relationship to the God."

"The God they were worshipping most likely was the Goddess Sekhmet who appeared traditionally as a lioness. She was the warrior goddess and a goddess of healing for Upper Egypt."

"Later, under the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, there was a conflict between the worshippers of Sekhmet and that of Bast, another female cat god of Lower Egypt and the assigned mother of the fierce god Maahees of Nubia. Maahees may be the archetype my transformation is based on. He might even be the reason that Egyptian Sphinxes were generally male. Thank God." Sam took a breath.

"Transforming into a cat I can almost handle. Transforming into a female cat is out of the question." He gave Dean, who, of course, was snickering, the stink eye. "Watch it, lightening bug."

Wapun laughed and smacked Dean's leg. "Leave your brother alone," she told him.

Sam went on and Dean groaned and rolled his eyes. "The conflict between Sekhmet and Bast was resolved as they diverged. Bast became, more famous Bastet, the cat goddess. Bastet became the Goddess of protection against diseases and evil spirits. She was also knows as The Eye of Ra."

"The Egyptians worshipped their cats as a personification of the Goddess. They were treated as members of the family and the family would go into mourning when one died. They were routinely mummified. At the temple of Bast at Per-Bast over 300,000 mummified cats were discovered when the temple was excavated."

Dean moved restlessly. "Any more Sam? I think my legs have gone to sleep. Especially anything useful?"

"Sphinxes have appeared all over the world. A creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human is present in the mythology and art of South and South-East Asia. In Sanskrit they are purushamriga and appear in many other cultures, in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand."

"In South India sphinxes are found in sculptural art in temples and palaces and are said to take away the sins of worshippers and ward off evil in general and so are found at the entrances or temple gateways."

Sam paused and Dean leaped to his feet. "Enough!" Dean turned to everyone else. "If you don't step on him he goes on forever."

Sam pursed his lips tight. "The more we know, the more we can understand, Dean. You know that as well as I do. We don't go into hunts without every piece of info we can find."

"Last I checked we weren't a hunt, Sam. We are us, you and me, Sam and Dean. Unless, of course, you're planning on putting me down."

Sam laughed lightly. "I don't even know what you are right now, Dean. I suspect you might be a personification of one of the fertility Gods like Adonis or Tammuz, but I don't know for sure. We'll just have to wait and see. We need to get used to this and see what comes up "

Sam stood as if to leave but Nixkamich put up his hand. "Hold on Sam," he said.

"Since you and your brother are here there is something I want to discuss with both of you."

Digger turned and looked out the window. He seemed to know what was coming.

"Ayamis' family has come to me with the request that we arrange a marriage between you and her."

Sam looked intently into Nixkamich's face. "They don't know about this latest twist. Do you think they will still agree? It's not every day your only daughter marries a cat."

"Oh, I'm sure it's not going to be a problem. They wanted to ally with you when it was only apparent that you had Shamanistic qualities. Now, they will want to include you in the gene pool even more."

"What about Ayamis? What does she think of all this?" Sam wanted to know.

"Oh, yeah, she's completely on board. In fact, she wants to get it done before school starts. She knows you are planning on leaving and it's OK with her. She'd like to go back to school with a wedding ring and maybe even a bun in the oven. Keeps her from being hit on and she'll just keep on living with her parents unless you decide otherwise. She'll wait."

"She is a lot like you, enjoys learning and studying. When she's out of the mountains at school we'll make sure she is guarded. I know you have enemies, but I can't imagine how someone would find out that she's your wife. It's not like we register these ceremonies. When the kid comes, a birth certificate might be a different problem. "

"That is not Cree terminology. A bun in the oven? Really!" Sam snorted.

Dean's mouth dropped open. "You want his DNA in the gene pool? What about me? If we're gonna use T.V. clichés, what am I, chopped liver?"

Wapun patted Dean's leg possessively. "Oh, don't worry honey; you're already swimming in the gene pool. You're my baby daddy."

Sokanon giggled at the look on Dean's face. "We tossed for it. Don't ask who won what; just know that Wapun is pregnant."

Dean looked like he had been hit over the head. He looked at Wapun then Sam and back to Wapun. He was on the verge of hyperventilating, and Sokanon pushed his head down to his knees. "Deep breaths, deep, take it easy." She was smiling and laughing.

Digger faced the room. "Now that everyone's done springing surprises I got errands to run.

Dean cleared his throat and set up straight, ditching Sokanon's hand on the back of his head. "Sorry, big guy, got one more."

"We had a call that the Hunters are organizing to come up here and attack. They don't like me and Sam; they don't like the stories of the spirit wolves; they don't like a lot of things. We should have taken care of Tom and Andy somehow instead of letting them go back to gossip central. We really didn't intend to bring trouble here."

XXXXXXX

Three days later and a lot had happened. Sam's wedding was on track for today and Dean had offered to take care of the presents for the wedding guests. In this culture, the guests don't give presents to the bride and groom, the bride and groom give presents to the guests.

After a lot of experimentation Dean had discovered that not only could he heal very fast, he has the power to heal. He tested it with Sokanon's permission on a few of her patients. He cured an old woman's cataracts, saving her from eye surgery. She saw better now than she ever has, or so she says.

He stopped the bleeding when one of cooks got a little too enthusiastic with a carving knife, sending her back to her kitchen, happy.

He offered to take care of Wapun's little bundle of joy and got a really sharp smack upside his head for his trouble. Wapun did not see it as a problem that she needed "cured". He almost got into a world of trouble over that one.

**Warning – sex scene follows**

He offered to make it up to her and told her he wouldn't mind if she wanted to use her leather strap on him again.

She laughed and said "Don't you worry about that. I'll take you whenever I want to, my choice." He stayed close to her for days, hoping. He turned up his glow every time he got close. She was a remarkably strong willed woman but on the second day she cracked.

He had followed her into her cabin, the one they had taken him to before. As soon as they got in the door she turned to face him and he poured all his frustration in to a kiss that drove them up against the wall. She was close to his height and he loved that she was right there; her lips aligned with his own.

"Why don't you want me?" He asked, breathing in the scent of her hair and kissing up the side of her long neck, sucking and nipping as if he were starving and she was the answer. His skin was glowing and he could feel the blood beating in her throat.

He had pushed her hands against the wall and she pulled them loose and brought his head down so she could whisper in his ear, her breath tingling his flesh. "No one owns me. I am my own woman and I decide want I want."

He laughed at her. "Even me? Is that what you want, me? It hasn't seemed like it."

She returned the laugh. "You've almost lit the forest on fire. I was wondering how the deer were staying in the trees. Every pair of eyes here has been following you around. I knew if I gave in so easily I would just be another pair of those eyes."

She took his hand and they went to the couch. There were soft furs draped everywhere. "Expecting a party?" he asked.

"Yeah, you." She answered and pushed him down then stood in front of him and started getting naked. He watched entranced. She leaned over and started removing his shirt. Grasping and pulling it off she managed to find his lips when his head cleared the edge of the fabric.

Then it was frantic activity as he stood and removed his boots and pants. Finally, they were both naked and he fell back on the couch. She climbed into his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck and started rubbing her dampness against his dick. It was slither, slide and then kiss. She managed to turn it into a complex dance. Their bellies slapped together, damp with sweat. She ran her hands over his chest, tweaking his nipples. He returned the favor. He would never again believe that a lap dance you paid for was worth the money.

His heart was pounding and the blood beating in his ears drown out all sound. He could hear his breath moving in and out but other than that all her could feel was her. Finally came the moment when she rose up the necessary inch and he slid home. He held on tight as she rode him to completion. It was like fireworks behind his eyes.

Afterward he sat naked on the couch, sticky, wet and content. She stood and from somewhere produced a damp cloth, cleaned him off and then pushed him over sideways on the couch and covered him with a soft warm fur.

"What happened to my leather strap?" he muttered.

"Do you really think I needed that?" she laughed at him

"It's my party favor. For my collection."

"Go to sleep. I'll give you one in the morning."

XXXXXXX

Sam's wedding was the next day in the early evening.

After the wedding Dean was supposed to be Sam's gift to the guests. He was going to cure various minor problems for people. Warts, sties, moles, skin lesions, all minor problems that people don't think were worth wasting Sokanon's time on.

Ayamis had laughed when she heard what the brothers had planned. "That's definitely different; never heard of that kind of gift before".

She had little bundles of medicinal dried herbs tied up with soft wool yarn that she had been making in anticipation of her wedding for years. They were traditional gifts that young girls had made for centuries and very welcome by the guests. Some of the herbs made tea; some could be burned like incense and were good for headaches; some had other uses.

Dean checked and Sam seemed very much at peace with his decision to marry Ayamis. They both knew that she would be safe here in the mountains. Digger would protect both her and Wapun and the eventual children against all comers, human or otherwise. Sam would wear his wedding ring like a talisman and stop worrying about cursing the poor women he occasionally seduced.

If ever the Winchesters felt that they had a chance at families, no matter how unusual, this looked like it. Dean was only sorry that Bobby wasn't there to see it. He would have loved to be called Grandpa.

In addition to playing with Dean's gift of healing and, it appeared, highly enhanced sex appeal, as if he needed it; Sam discovered that he could take his Sphinx body with him on spirit walks. Dean decided this was going to be a major advantage on any hunt they worked.

Sam could manipulate objects and even carry stuff with him. When Dean found out that he could also turn his "attraction" on and off like Sam could control the cat, it seemed too good to be true.

Dean only found one problem with these gifts. When he was in enhanced mode Sam seemed to get "handsey", touching and caressing Dean's skin. Dean could have just told him to stop but he was beginning to find that he kind of liked it, which freaked him out. OK, he could just imagine seducing some random dude but the idea that the dude might be Sam made his toes curl. This was going to take serious thought.

XXXXXXX

The sun was setting and the campfires were lit. In front of the main fire circle Sam stood with Ayamis, with Nixkamich officiating. Sam was dressed in white linen-like pants and an embroidered all white shirt. Ayamis was dressed in a modern First Nations dress of soft doeskin, with stylized decorations of shell and beads.

There was no denying they were a striking couple.

Behind them stood the traditional four "sponsors", people who pledged to provide advice to the couple for their lifetimes. Sam told Dean to think of the sponsors as people, not necessarily related to the newly married couple, who had "get out of jail free cards" to stick their noses in whenever they wanted. Sam's sponsors were Dean and Digger and Ayamis' were her aunt and uncle on her mother's side.

Nixkamich was the wedding's "pipe bearer". He prayed and raised the smoking pipe in the four cardinal directions then passed it to the bride and groom to puff on. The couple then repeated a prayer of their own to the spirit of the land and the wedding was official in the eyes of the tribe.

Nixkamich had promised that he would send appropriate notice to the tribal council to record the wedding but it would only appear in the tribal records for purposes of inheritance. No notice would be made to the Canadian government.

This particular wedding however had a special ceremony of its' own. A number of people had approached Nixkamich about asking Sam to transform into his Sphinx form for them.

Sam had decided it was a good idea. He wanted everyone to know exactly what they were getting involved with. It was also the reason that he and Dean had decided to exhibit Dean's power of healing.

After returning the pipe to Nixkamich Sam let go of Ayamis' hand and she stepped back. It took Sam only a moment to find his center and let the bell toll. As his body elongated and he took on the russet coloration, his wings appeared.

He ruffled his wings and a whisper swept through the people gathered there. As he stretched them out the fire tossed their shadows against the trees. He knew this was possibly the only time he would show the wings without fear. After this they would be hidden away.

Ayamis and Sam slipped away to consummated their marriage in private. These were two very private and basically shy people. What they shared was for them alone.

Dean smiled and waved to his brother, keeping his smart mouth and possibly dirty remarks to himself. Wapun stood on one side of him and Sokanon on the other. Sokanon was there to keep an eye on Dean's "healing". Wapun was there just for Dean.

XXXXXXX

It was another three days before they were loading up the Impala, including Dean's favorite blanket which Digger had given him.

He and Sam were going to take off first to meet with Garth and then to travel on to Elroy's bar in Nebraska to fulfill an old promise to a couple of hunters named Walt and Roy and to see if they could put a cap on the damage done by Tom and Andy's gossip.

It might not, and really, mostly likely, wouldn't make a difference to the Hunters with their minds already set on a Winchester hunt but they wanted to try.

With them out of the mountains and showing their faces again they hoped that the Rocky Mountains camp would be forgotten. Digger would be on watch with the help of the other "hunters' they had trained.

Sam had gone into the forest one night to talk to the spirit wolves and try to explain the situation to them. When he came back he didn't know that they really understood him but they did seem to like him. They had stopped circling when he was there and sat staring at him. One had even lain down with his head on Sam's feet.

They felt they had done everything they could to protect their new home and families. Now the only thing they could do was keep the Hunters away.

**The end**

This ends the story "Sons of the Morning". If you want to follow the boys further, the sequel is called **"Walt and Roy Get What They Deserve"**

And it starts immediately.


End file.
